Beyond Distant Worlds
by AstralPhoenix929
Summary: With Organization XIII gone, Sora, Riku and Kairi are back home at Destiny Islands. Everything seems to be back to normal...Can't say the same for other worlds...Chapter 7 is FINALLY up!
1. My Heart's A Battleground

Ok, as you guys may or may not know, this is a fanfic written by Kchan929(total noob at this; ) and Naomi Iori(not a noob). It is a brilliant cross-over for two of the world's most popular video games: Kingdom Hearts and Fire Emblem.(Fire Emblem 7 to be exact) So yeah, let's just go ahead and get this started!  
Naomi: ..Disclaimer.  
Kchan: Right! We do NOT own Kingdom Hearts or Fire Emblem because if we did, the Fire Emblem world would be in the actual game.:P So there.

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Beyond Distant Worlds

_Ch. 1_

_My Heart's A Battleground_

"It's finally time…to open the door…I'm going for it, Master…" the girl said approaching the large doors leading to the realm of dragons, "If I can just get some quintessence from at least one dragon, it may be enough…to revive you…"

With all of her strength, she began to open the Dragon's Gate. "All for you…Master…"

Just as she felt that she was out of strength, the door slowly starts to open.

"Yes! Yes! It's working! I can't believe it!" The girl starts crying, "All for you, Lord Nergal! You shall be back soon! And then, we can be together again. Now! GATE! OPEN! Bring me to the realm of the dragons!"

As the door opens, a large dark figure appears from the other side. "Yes, yes, that's it!" The girl's golden eyes flashed in excitement. "Come out dragon, and enter the world of the wretched humans!"

The figure slowly emerged, revealing a large, dark shadow with a hole in its chest shaped like a heart.

The girl stumbled back. "Is that... a dragon?...No...it can't be...then...what IS it?"

Just as the dark figured loomed out, the door started filling with more shadows and soon more and more of the heartless enter the world of humans and ran amuck.

The girl quickly moved to the wall before being trampled by the hordes of different beasts. As the last one entered, she sank to the floor and clutched her chest. Her ebony hair fell to her face. "Something...has gone wrong...what ARE those things?"

A single shadow that was searching the room, spotted her and went to her. The girl instantly reacted. "Get away monster!" She automatically removed its heart and absorbed it into her body. "What the-? This...energy? It feels like quintessence...only stronger..."she smirked, "I can find a use for these monsters yet. Soon, master...you will return...I'll make sure of it..."

On another side of the world, in a small village just outside Pherae, a problem arose.

Sora started looking around as everything came into view. "What's going on!?" he said as everything was in chaos.

A lone soldier rides up to the party. "The village is under attack!" "Impossible!" said Marcus, "Is it bandits?" "No sir, it's...those things!" The soldier points to an upcoming heartless. Serra squealed. "Ewwwwwww! What IS that thing?!?" "A heartless!" Sora yelled knowing them instantly, "What are they doing here!?"

Rhea the tactician ruffled her nose. "They're from your world, I assume?" she asked. "Yeah, there's no time to explain though! We have to hurry before they start stealing people's hearts!" "Right!"

Rhea let out a nervous sigh and reached for her dagger. This would be her first real battle after all the training she had. A bead of sweat rolled down her face. _My first fight...I can do this...even though I've never fought anything like these things in my entire life! _

Lyn interrupted her thoughts. "This is your first battle, isn't it?" she asked. "...I was too much of a burden before. I was always giving out orders and making battle plans, but never doing any fighting myself..." Lyn put her hand on Rhea's shoulder. "You weren't a burden to us...and never will be." "...Thanks." Rhea smiled a little.

"Well then, Rhea? What are our orders?" Lyn asked. "Well, I know we've never fought an enemy like this before, but I'm sure we can do it," Rhea then addresses the party, "Ok everyone! We must defeat these...heartless?...or at least drive them out of the village. Make sure that all the villagers are safe. And be careful everyone! Let's move out!"

"Right!" Sora said charging already like an idiot going to fight off heartless like he always used to do. A shadow heartless approaches Rhea. She stared at it nervously for a little while until it decided to lunge at her. "Augh!" Rhea quickly slashed at it, subduing it. The heartless vanished and a small heart appeared. Rhea watched it float into the sky and then vanish. "What...was that?" She wondered. "Looked like a heart," Hector replied.

"Yes, but...why did it do that? Why did it float up into the sky like that?" Rhea continued to stare at the sky.

Eliwood called out to them. "What in the word are you two doing?!?" "Worry about the little things later! We have to drive these things away from the village!" Lyn said. Rhea snapped out of it. "Oh...sorry! Back to the fray!" "Calm down, I'm coming!" Hector yelled back running off.

"Rhea!" Sora said running towards her. "A lot of the villagers are running around! That can't be good!" "Oh no! We have to get them to settle down!" "I'll go this way!" Sora said running off stupidly again before he could really get Rhea's say in it.

"Calm down, everybody! Hurry and go back to your homes!" Sora yelled to the panicking villagers. The villagers, of course, completely ignore him.

A girl wanders around appearing to look lost and confused. _Drat! Where did these mercenary people come from? They're ruining all the fun! _She thought. She flipped her ebony hair back in frustration.

"Hey, don't ignore me!" Sora yelled frustrated. He knew more about the heartless then they did! He then saw the girl. "Hey! You have to get home before the heartless takes your heart!" The girl jumps. "Hey, what are you talking about you dumb- I mean ok!" She then runs off. "Wow...talk about bipolar." Sora said before running off to relocate Rhea.

"Please ma'am! You must calm down and return to your home! We will take care of this!" Rhea tried reasoning with a villager woman. "You? But you're just a child! Ahhhh! We're doooooomed!" the woman screamed. _Please don't remind me. _Rhea thought, " Listen. Lord Eliwood and his army are here. And we're fending off these...um...things...as we speak. So please ma'am. Return to your home. Everything will be fine." "...Alright, but you need to be careful out there child. This is a battlefield and a battlefield is no place for you!" the woman ran away.

Rhea just stood there looking a bit disappointed. "She obviously doesn't know who I am." She then moves on to the next panicking civilian. "Don't worry. We will handle this, sir!" Rhea reassured an elderly man. "Well, alright, but you might want to look out behind you!" he pointed and ran. "Wha-!!!" Rhea turned around and saw a heartless sliding on the ground then come up from it and jump at her.

"Thunder!" Sora said, casting a spell with his keyblade, making the heartless get struck before it could jump Rhea. "Are you ok!?" he said running to her with concern. Rhea came out of her temporary moment of shock. "Yes, I'm fine." _Already I have to be saved? I'm pathetic. _"Some people around here are really evil. One girl yelled at me then just changed personalities!" "That is strange. But she is safe, right?" "I guess," Sora shrugged. "Good. She is a civilian after all, no matter how bratty or strange they may be." Rhea responded. "Right," Sora said, somewhat understanding the situation. "All the villagers are safe then. The only problem left is the heartless..." "Don't worry, leave them to me! This is all I need!" Sora said showing off his keyblade. Rhea looked skeptically at the weapon. "I've been meaning to ask. Exactly HOW do you fight with a giant key?" "It's the keyblade!" Sora said overly happy, "It's what the heartless fear!" _Why is he so cheerful in the middle of a battle? Well I guess it's my fault for asking…_she thought. "Um...if you say so."

Sora smiled brightly at Rhea. "Hey, smile," he said. Rhea looked at him baffled. "Um...why?" "Just try it!" he demanded. Rhea quickly smiled then shook her head and sighed. "We're in the middle of a battle!" "But act happy. We're fighting to protect these evil people! You gotta think positive!" Sora explained to her. _Evil people? _Rhea thought. "Um...right then...positive." She put on a smile that made her mouth twitch a little. "Looks like we'll need ALOT of practice." Sora joked talking about his smile. He was used to smiling. His mom would always say in school pictures to "smile so wide we can see all your teeth!" So he's used to it.

Hector wandered by. "Being lovey-dovey on a battlefield? Shame on you children!" he teased. Rhea blushed. "Wha? What are you talking about?!?! W-we were discussing our c-current situation!" _Ugh, the nerve. _She thought. Sora laughed. "Very funny. C'mon, let's go!" he said while running off but not before looking back to smile at Rhea. She blushed a little and looked at the ground.

"Doesn't seem like you were 'discussing our current situation' to me," Hector teased. "…You're a jerk, you know that, right?" "Grr, c'mere you!" Hector gave Rhea a strong pat of the head with his massive hand and said, "Now stop daydreaming and start fighting!" He dashed off.

Rhea blushed more and rubbed her head. "I wasn't...daydreaming." She runs off in another direction.

The girl pouted. "Drat! All the people are gone! ...Oh well, I guess I've had enough fun letting them run for their very lives." She snapped her fingers and all the heartless disappeared. "Stupid mercenaries...wait a second...could they be...the same mercenaries that-" A noise cut her off before she could say anything else. She whipped up a ball of dark magic in her hand. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

A smaller blue-haired girl slowly came out of hiding not saying a word. "Oh great, it's a kid," the older girl said. The dark magic disappeared and she started to walk away. The smaller girl followed, making the older one walk faster. She still followed but at the same pace as last time.

The older girl smirked. _Try to keep up now! _Just then, the smaller girl picked up a rock and threw it at her head. The older girl tumbled to the ground. "Ow!" she cried, "What the hell is your PROBLEM!" "I dunno." The older girl growled, "Well, don't throw rocks at me or else you'll be sorry!"

And with that, the little girl threw a rock at her head once again. The older girl snapped. "DAMMIT! YOU LITTLE BRAT! I'D BETTER NOT BE BLEEDING!" "…" The little girl didn't hesitate to catch up to her. The older girl rubbed her head and glared at her. "Look, what do you want?" "Nothing."

The elder girl felt as if her head were about to explode. "UGH! You're wasting my time!" "Sorry." "Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me," the girl started to walk away again, the smaller one resumed following her. The older girl grew irritated and stopped. "Is there a reason in particular as to WHY you're following me?" she asked as politely as she could. "I dunno."

The girl felt steam coming from her ears at this point. "Whatever!" She continued walking. The smaller girl caught up but this time hugged her leg, making the older girl fall to the ground. She grew furious. "Look kid, I don't know WHY you're following me, but GO HOME," she yelled. "I can't," the little girl responded. "And why not?" the elder girl sighed. "Daddy will beat me." "Well BOO HOO for you!" Tears formed around the little girl's eyes. "…Please?" Unable to take it anymore, the older girl rolled her eyes and said, "Fine. Just don't get in my way or else." "Ok." The little girl got up and allowed the older one to stand as well.

The older girl sighed again. "I'd hate to ask this but…what is your name?" "They call me Lucretia…"the little one responded. "Wonderful. I'm Irene. Let's go," the older girl said staring to walk again. "Ok," Lucretia said following her.

"I think that's all of them." Sora said to the rest. "You have some explaining to do!!" Serra told him. "Yes, I do believe she is right." Rhea crossed her arms. Sora looked at everyone who all had looks that could kill.

"Um ok. So there's these heartless that go around stealing people's hearts. They go around stealing hearts because they don't have one of their own," Sora said making different hand motions for the "special" people, "Um, and well, they keep collecting hearts because they thrive for the biggest and strongest heart! The heart of the world!!!" Sora said making an exaggerating hand sign of total annihilation. Serra jumped and hid behind Erk. "Noooo! Don't let the nasty things take my heart away, Erky!" she screeched. Erk sighed.

Rhea rolled her eyes. "And you say that these heartless fear your...keyblade, was it?" "Yup!" Sora said proudly showing everybody his keyblade which shone in the light.  
"Wow...a key's supposed to save us all...great." Hector said sarcastically. "Hector!" Eliwood warned.

Matthew looked at the keyblade in awe. "I bet that could open so many treasure chests!" "It can open anything!" Sora bragged. Matthew gasped. "You must let me try that sometime." "Sure!" Sora said folding his arms over his head as soon as his keyblade disappeared. Serra screeched. "Eep! Erky! It disappeared! Did you see?" Erk sighed again, "Yes, I saw. Let go of me." "Don't worry. It will come back when I need it!" Sora assured with a smile.

"Speaking of which, Rhea, this was your first time actually fighting with us, was it not? I have to say you did pretty good kid!" Hector said patting her on the back.

Rhea blushed. "No, I wasn't that great. Honestly..." "Oh, but I must disagree!" Sain interrupted, "You were amazing! Your movement was like a delicate flower swaying in the-" "Sain!" Kent warned. "Thanks Kent. But seriously, I really wasn't good at all!" Rhea said. "Don't worry. This was only your first time. And you're alive, right? You're a great tactician. You can do anything if you wanted to," Lyn replied. Rhea blushed. "Th-thanks Lyn..."

"Are we staying here? I want to check this place out!" Sora exclaimed. "Oh right! I guess our mission had been accomplished. Good work everyone!" Rhea said. Hector laughed. "You expected otherwise? You may be a kid but you get the job done!" "I'd appreciate it if you'd stop calling me a 'kid,' Lord Hector." "Hey, that's right!" Sain said, "Look how much she's grown in the past few months! Our little bud has become a beautiful rose!" Rhea sighed. "That's enough out of you, Sain," Kent said dragging him away. Sora snickered at Sain's comment before running off to check out the sights.

"Don't worry, Rhea! That's just boys for you!" Serra said. Rhea sighed. "I'll go make sure he doesn't get himself lost..." she said walking away.

Sora was just outside the bakery. He saw Rhea walking towards him. "Do they accept munny? I'm hungry." "If by that you mean gold, yes." Sora took out the spherical balls of gold. "Hm…looks like I got 200...I hope that's enough." Rhea stared at the munny. "What in the world is that?" "I said munny!" Rhea looked confused. "Um...no." She took out her bag and pulled out a piece of gold. "This is what they accept." "Oh, fine. I get your drift!" Sora said irritated.

Later on…

"What is he trying to do?" Serra asked Erk. "Don't ask me!" Erk replied. Everyone watched as Sora tried to reduce the size of his munny with his keyblade. Rhea crossed her arms and looked in amusement. "Um Rhea...?" Lyn muttered to her, "What is he doing?" "I really wish I knew..." Rhea responded with a sigh.

"I give up!" Sora said, throwing his keyblade on the floor, making it disappear. "I'm going to buy something whether they like it or not!" he demanded picking up his munny and running inside the bakery, "Hello? I need 3 hamburgers and a pizza! And got any ice cream?" The baker stared at him in utter confusion and fear. "Ham...burgers?"

Rhea walked up to the baker. "Please excuse him," she said dragging Sora back, "Ok, I don't know what in the world you're talking about, but you buy bread at a bakery." Sora look horrified, then sad. "Fine. I'll have some bread..." "I'll handle this," she said walking up to the baker again. She paid for the bread, came back and gave it to him. "Thanks...but why?" Sora asked confused. "Well...you wanted it...right?" "Well yeah, but...-" "Just accept it, alright?" "Alright...thank you," Sora said while smiling. Rhea turned her head and blushed. "N-no problem..." "??"

The rest of the day Sora ate his bread with complication seeing as it was ok but a bit bland. He HAD to eat it._ Because Rhea paid for it with her own money! _He thought.That and she was watching him like a hawk for some reason.  
_  
_Either way he found this world to be quite boring, nothing to do without any video games or television.

"I think I'll go to sleep," he declared to Rhea. "Alright. Good night then." "Thanks," Sora said dully while getting up and walking away. _Please. I don't care what I have to sacrifice. Just give me Riku and Kairi back…_

_End of Ch. 1_

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Kchan: Alright, so that's a wrap for Ch. 1! We hope you all have very much enjoyed it!bows  
Naomi: Questions.  
Kchan: Right! I'm sure you all have tons of questions!  
Naomi: We can't answer them now.  
Kchan: But we promise that all of your questions will be answered in future chapters so please stick with us and keep reading. Thank you all very much for reading!  
Naomi: R & R please! Thank you. 


	2. Another Side, Another Story

Kchan: Ok! It's time for Ch. 2!. And just in time for the New Year!  
Naomi: Wahoo.  
Kchan: Whew, I'm finally getting the hang of this fanfic making business! .  
Naomi: Congratulations.  
Kchan: Yeah, this is really confusing stuff but don't worry about me, everything will work out!  
Naomi: So I hope.  
Kchan: So yeah, we'll just go ahead and get started! Disclaimer!  
Naomi: We do not own Kingdom Hearts or Fire Emblem.  
Kchan: Because if we did, this would probably actually happen. Well, enjoy!

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Ch. 2

_Another Side, Another Story_

Riku woke up with a massive headache. "...Ouch." He rubbed his eyes and blinked, suddenly aware of the fact that he wasn't in his bedroom, but in the middle of nowhere surrounded by nothing but trees. "What...the...hell?!?" "Hi," Kairi said in a low whisper as he sat up. She had been waiting for him to wake up for a while. "K-Kairi? W-what's going on? And where's Sora?" Riku asked panicking. "I don't know," Kairi said worried, "We're in another world. I don't think there's a town nearby..." "Well, this is just great!" Riku sighed, "Well, I guess we should try to find SOME kind of civilization...right?"

"What kind of crazy world IS THIS? We've been walking forever and we still haven't seen anyone!" Riku complained. "I wish we had a map," Kairi complained with Riku. "I just hope Sora's ok. That kid just doesn't know what to do with himself without us around!" "He's not that immature. I mean, he's grown up now! Right?" Kairi said in desperation. (Sora: talking in his sleep I want to see Santa Riku, it's not fair!) "Well if you say so..."

"I think I see something up ahead!" Kairi said pointing in front of them. "Really? Please tell me it's a town or something!" Riku said in exasperation. "Looks like one." "Thank goodness! Let's go Kairi!" "Ok!"

The town was busy with the hustle and bustle of medieval-like everyday life. "Doesn't looked too developed," Kairi observed. "Tell me about it. It's almost like the Stone Age here!" Riku said. "Poor Sora. Probably all alone and confused. Even if he isn't, I bet he's living in horror!" Kairi exclaimed with fear. (Sora: practically whining in his sleep NOW I'LL NEVER GET THAT NINTENDO WII!) "Well I guess we'd better find him soon then."

The villagers all stared at the newcomers. There were whispers around such as "Who are they?" or "What kind of clothes are those?" or "Who's that hottie with that little brat?!? "These people are rude," Kairi who was obviously annoyed muttered to Riku. "I'll go ask someone where we are," Riku said.

He walked up to a village girl, "Hey." The girl blushed. "H-Hello! Need help with anything?" she said nervously. "Um, yeah can you tell me where I am?" "Oh! You're in Pherae, dear!" "Thanks." He walked back to Kairi. "...Where's Pherae?" he asked. "I guess this town...we're certainly not on Destiny Island anymore. May as well see where we can get a map," Kairi said trying to ask for help this time. "Excuse me, do you know where we can get a map?" Kairi asked an elderly man. "Um, yeah, there's a peddler over there in that blue tent. He may have a map for you," the man said. "Thanks!" Kairi said walking past Riku to the tent. Riku followed.

Merlinus the merchant was busy counting his gold when he suddenly noticed two unexpected guests. "Oh! Welcome to my lovely tent! How may I help you?" _This guy scares me, _Riku thought. "Yeah do you sell maps?" he asked. "Why yes! Sweet treasure maps, maps of ancient civilizations, world maps-" "World map," Kairi interrupted, looking to the man and Riku. "Ah yes, of course!"

Merlinus rummaged through a bunch of stuff and pulled out a rolled up piece of parchment, "1000 gold, please." Kairi grabbed Riku and dragged him to the corner. "Riku, we have munny, not gold. Even if he did accept it, it won't be enough...maybe..." Riku smiled wickedly. "How about we sell him munny for gold then? After that we buy the map. I've got 500 munny on me." "Well…ok," Kairi agreed then they walked over to the sleazy peddler.

"We have a deal to make," Kairi announced. "We'll sell you these," Riku showed him the munny," for gold." Merlinus observed the spherical objects, "And what exactly are these?" "A hybrid of a gold and diamond: munny. Doesn't it look pretty?" Kairi said. "Yes, I must admit, they do look...precious. Ok, how much are you wanting?" "The amount is worth as much as the map." "Very well then." Riku handed him the munny and in exchange received the map. "…Thanks" _Creep._ "Anytime!" Merlinus said.

Kairi held her laughter in very well as they ran out. "Hey Riku, you get admirers of all kinds!" she pointed out. "I swear, being this good-looking does have its disadvantages." Riku sighed as several village girls walked past the two and giggled and blushed. Kairi laughed. "Right Riku…" She opened up the map. "Let's see…"

"Why are we here?" Lucretia asked Irene upon entering the new town. Irene sighed, "We're destroying the town. We may be able to get some quintessence here." "Oh, ok," Lucretia said not very interested. A waste of a good town. They could have at least tried to enjoy it first. "Ok, now my precious little underlings! Time to come out!" Irene snapped her fingers and a horde of heartless appeared. "Can I eat first?" Lucretia asked. "You should've thought about that BEFORE I released them!" "..." Without any further thought Lucretia walked away to a shed. "Hmph! Good riddance I say!" Irene muttered to herself.

"OK, so we're here," Kairi pointed out, "But we have no idea where Sora is. We may as well start with the village and ask some questions." A single heartless quietly slides by in the distance. "Yeah, yeah sure...!!! Kairi! Did you see that or am I hallucinating?" Riku asked panicking a little. "Huh?" Kairi looked up from the map, "See what? That sign?"

Making sure not to lose sight of the heartless, Riku run in that direction. "Riku!" Kairi yelled. He had always been faster then her. By the time she yelled his name he was out of sight. She ran to his direction regardless.

"There it is! So I wasn't hallucinating!" Just then several more heartless appeared, surprising the crowd and making them panic. "Oh crap!" Riku made his keyblade appear in his hand.

"Where'd he go?!" Kairi asked herself looking around until she could have sworn she saw something go inside a shed. "Riku!?" she asked running in only to find a little girl. "Oh! I'm sorry, you're not Riku…"

Lucretia just stared at the red-headed girl for a moment before picking up a dead rat on the floor, raising it, and slowly putting it in her mouth. "Wait! What are you doing?!?" Kairi asked before taking the rat out of her hands and throwing it into a haystack, "That thing could have a disease or something!" "I'm hungry..." Lucretia answered.

Irene watched this from a short distance away. _What a moron. _She thought. She then walks up to them. "Don't mind her, she's a bit of a loon," Irene said dragging Lucretia away. "Oh, ok...W-wait! Have you seen someone with long silver hair, aqua eyes, and in a weird outfit like me?" Kairi asked while Irene was pulling Lucretia away. Irene stopped briefly to answer. "Uhn uh." _But if we do I'll make sure to get rid of him. He may be with that other weird kid from the other day. _"Oh...thank you," Kairi said disappointed. "I'm still hungry," Lucretia pointed out. "That's lovely. Let's go," Irene said starting to drag her again.

Riku starts fending off the heartless. "Dammit! Why do these things have to be here too?!? I need to find Kairi!" He runs off in the direction he came, still fighting the heartless along the way. Kairi walked out as soon as the other two did, surprised to find them completely gone. "Riku!" she yelled while walking back. Riku continued to run and fend off heartless. "Kairi?! Kairi!?!? Outta my way!" HACK HACK SLICE. "Riku!" Kairi yelled when she saw him, "Over here!" She waved looking at the heartless around the town. Riku spotted her. "Kairi! MOVE IT!" HACK HACK PWNAGE. The heartless vanished. "Are you alright?" he asked. "Yeah, no problems. Can't say the same for you though. Why are there heartless here!? I thought you and Sora..." "So did I, but apparently they're back!" "Do you think Sora knows about this?" "He may. That's why we need to hurry and find him!" "You're right! We all know Sora can't do anything without us!" Kairi said with a smirk. (Sora: mutters in his sleep ...Kairi...how do you work the refrigerator?...)

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Kchan: Well, that's it for Ch. 2! Thank you very much for reading!  
Naomi: R&R.  
Kchan: Yes! Please rate and review! We'd love to know what you think!  
Naomi: Chapter 3.  
Kchan: Yep! We'll have Chapter 3 up as soon as possible! Once again, thanks for reading and happy new year everyone! 


	3. Naught of Night

Kchan: Hello! Welcome to chapter 3!  
Naomi: Woot.  
Kchan: Before I start I wanna mention a little error I made in ch 2  
Naomi: Script mode.  
Kchan: Yeah, sorry, I totally forgot it's not allowed. Won't happen again  
Naomi: Yeah right.  
Kchan: Anyway, on to the disclaimer! We do NOT own Fire Emblem OR Kingdom Hearts!  
Naomi: Because if we did Kchan would make it all a yaoi.  
Kchan: WHAT?!? Nuh uh!  
Naomi: Right.  
Kchan: grr...  
Naomi: On to the story.

_

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_

_Ch. 3  
Naught of Night_

The inn the party was staying at was relatively quiet. Everyone was awake and ready to head out except for Sora who was still sound asleep in his room. Rhea walked up to the door for the third time that morning. "Ugh, he's STILL asleep?!?" She knocked loudly on the door. "Sora! Time to get up! Wake up!"

Wil, Serra and Erk walked by. "Wow, that kid can sleep!" Wil exclaimed cheerfully. Erk remained silent as always. Serra giggled. "Good luck with him, Rhea!" she said and they all walked on by. "...What does THAT mean?" Rhea said, not noticing that she was blushing.

"Nghn..." was the noise Sora made as he woke up to find himself in the bed same as last night's. "I'm still here...and still sleepy," he said wishing they had a clock in the stupid room; he dug himself into the bed deeper.

Rhea could tell she wasn't getting a response from him so she started banging on the door. "SORA GET UP! YOU LAZY BUM!" Rhea then cooled down a little for she knew that she was getting a few looks from the other guests. "If all you can do is call me names, then I'm not coming out!" was the only reply she got.

"Geez, it's like they're married or something!" Hector teased as he passed by with Lyn and Eliwood. "Hector!" Eliwood said. "Don't tease her!" Lyn said. Hector only snickered as they passed by. Rhea stamped her foot and called at them. "It's not like that at all!" she let her agitation go away, "Grr...ok...fine...Can you PLEASE come out? Everyone's already eaten breakfast and I'm sure yours has gotten cold by now." "No!" Sora yelled running out of the bed feet making contact with the cold wooden floor, running over to open the door half naked, "You had breakfast without me!?!!" Rhea blushed and turned away. "Um, well...it is rather late...almost lunchtime actually..." "Lunchtime!? I have to hurry!" Sora yelled for the whole inn to hear, running off not taking notice that he needed his shirt. Rhea sighed, "What an idiot."

Later that day, Sora found himself apologizing to the rest for a certain "incident."

"Heh heh...sorry about…you know...what happened earlier…I...never mind," Sora said embarrassed while looking away to avoid the looks of the others. Rhea had her arms crossed and was looking in another direction as well. "Just make sure it doesn't happen again...ok?" "Ok…"

"We should get going now," Rhea said, eager to change the subject. "Right!" Serra said, "Where to?" Rhea pulled the hood of her cloak over her head. "There's a town due west of here. There may be some information of some sort," she explained.

"Wow, you seem to know a lot, little miss," Hector teased. "I travel a lot, Lord Hector. I don't spend my days in a castle," Rhea responded. Sora didn't feel much like talking but if anything he wanted to ask if he could search for his friends.

"Should we stock up before leaving or are we ok?" Lyn asked curiously. "Yes, it definitely couldn't hurt to buy a few things." Rhea said. "Let's split up then! I go with Erky!" Serra squealed clinging to him. Erk only had an expression on his face of utter annoyance and self-pity.

"Yes, yes Serra, just please don't buy anything we don't need like last time. That goes for you too, Matthew." Rhea warned. Matthew's ear perked up. "What did I do?" He smiled. Rhea sighed. "Cool! I'll go...somewhere," Sora said not hesitating to be the first out the door. "Now, now, since our little Rhea has been there and done that, she apparently knows the sights so she should go with you!" Hector said pushing Rhea towards Sora.

Rhea gave him Hector an I-hate-you look. He gave her the you'll-thank-me-later look in return. "Well then, I suppose Oswin would have to tag along with you, now wouldn't he? After all, he is your guard," Rhea retorted. "Yes, she is indeed correct, Lord Hector," Oswin said, "I shall accompany you." Hector gave Rhea the I-hate-you look, which in response she gave him the you'll-thank-me-later look.

Eliwood addressed the party. "Well then, let's all meet up at the entrance later. Is that good?" "Yes," they all (or most of them) replied as they made their way to the door.

The outside was pretty lively. Sora was among the people looking everywhere and anywhere while they were walking. Rhea spent her time doing the shopping. Of course she didn't mind since she figured Sora wouldn't know what to buy.

"Hey wait, we haven't checked this store out!" Sora pointed out in the middle of shopping. "Oh! I guess I overlooked this one..." Rhea said. Sora quickly looked through the shop. "Never mind-who cares, this shop now!" he said going to the shop across from it. _He's just like a little child...where does all that energy come from? _Rhea thought.

"Nope not this one!" he said running to the next one as Rhea was in thought. _He'd just better make up his mind soon..._ She thought then suddenly realized he was almost out of sight and decided to follow.

"Let's check the other side of town!" he decided looking at her. "Alright, but hang on a second. I should probably give you this." Rhea looked through her bag and pulled out a small bottle with liquid inside. "Is this a potion?" he asked. "Well yes, I guess you can say that. It's called a vulnerary. It heals minor wounds. Use it when you don't have a cleric like Serra around," she explained handing it to him. "Ok! Thanks," Sora said quickly running off to the other side. Rhea stood there for a moment. "You're...welcome..." She sighed and followed him.

It seemed like they had been searching for hours, but still Sora had no luck. "Aw, they're not here. But maybe they've been here! I'm going to ask some people, ok!?" Rhea gave a small smile and said, "Knock yourself out." Sora smiles at her happily before asking random strangers if they had seen his friends.

"Rhea," Lyn said walking up to her, "Have you made your shopping?" "Ah, yes! I believe we managed to get all that's necessary." She responded. "All right. We're all waiting for you then." "Ok." Rhea then called out to Sora, "Sora! It's time to go!" "AW! But I still need to talk to the people on the other side!" "Don't worry! We're heading for another village! They may have more information there! Now let's go!" "Ok," Sora said a bit disappointed but he had to stay positive. He walked over to the rest.

"Welcome back," Eliwood said cheerfully. Serra clung to Erk as always. "Didja have fun?" she asked. "Serra," Rhea sighed. "No! I didn't find out anything! Half of the time people asked why was my hair like this!" Sora complained. "Well it IS an odd style," Serra said. "Stop being rude, Serra," Erk muttered.

"Now now, cheer up," Eliwood said, "I'm sure that sooner or later we will get a lead of some sort." "Yeah, kid! Cheer up! Don't be gloomy like little Rhea over there!" Hector said patting Sora on the back. "Hmph!" Rhea folded her arms across her chest and turned her head. "Ow!" Sora yelled almost falling to the ground when getting smacked on the back, "And my hair isn't weird! It's cool! You guys wouldn't understand, you don't even have TVs!" The whole group looked confused. "Tee...vees...?" Serra repeated. "Argh! I can't wait to find Riku and Kairi! Maybe they can explain to you guys. It's like something you watch: sitcoms, and cartoons, and the news!"

The party looked dumbfounded. "Sit...comes?" Lyn said. "Car...tunes..." Rhea repeated. Hector wrapped his arm around Sora's neck and gave him a noogie. "You're a strange one, lad!" "Owowowowow! Give, give, give!" Sora said in surrender, easily reminded of Riku who'd always do that to him but not as hard as the green giant himself. "Enough fooling around, you two," Eliwood said, "Are we all ready to go?" "We're all set!" Lyn replied. "Good then, let's move out." Hector let go of Sora, "Let's go, kid." Sora rubbed his head, "Right."

Soon enough they reached the designated town. "Gawd, they all look the same!" Sora exclaimed surprised. Rhea looked at the sky and the coming sunset. "Already dusk, huh," she said to herself. "Well Marcus, I believe you know what to do," Eliwood said. "I shall go book our rooms in the local inn at once!" Marcus said riding off.

"Yay! Erk! Let's go see the sights!" Serra exclaimed dragging Erk along before he could even respond. Sain of course, already spotted a local village girl and was flirting with her, Kent following to pull him away.

"Hey Rhea, can I start searching now? I want to start at that tent place!" Sora asked. "Of course. Let's go," she said, leaving the rest of the group to basically relax in the village.

They walked into the tent. "Look at all the stuff!" Sora said. The merchant had his back turned to them. "Welcome to my shop! Have a look around!" Rhea instantly knew who he was by his voice. "Merlinus!"

Merlinus jumped at the mention of his name and turned around. "How do you know- Wait...I know you...Rhea? Rhea! It IS you! My, you've grown!" he exclaimed. "Well met, Merlinus." "You know him?" Sora asked. "Merlinus was our merchant on our last journey," Rhea explained. "Merlinus the merchant at your service! And who might you be?" Merlinus said. "I'm Sora! Nice to meet you!" "The pleasure is all mine!"

"Ummm, hey," Sora began, "I'm looking for my friends, Riku and Kairi. Riku is THIS tall and he has silver hair and-" "Silver hair! Oh my! There was a boy in here just the other day with silver hair! And he was with this little girl with red hair! I must say he was the prettiest boy I've ever seen! Almost like a lovely little girl!" Merlinus exclaimed. Rhea remained silent.

Sora couldn't help but have his eye twitch at the comment. "Right. But you saw them!?! What were they doing!? Where were they going? Are they still here!?" he asked, questions going through his head. "Sora, calm down," Rhea said. Merlinus tried to answer all of his questions. "Ah, let's see, they came in here looking for a map. They paid me with the strangest things...'munny' I think they called it-but who cares, because I made a profit selling them at the auction!" Rhea cleared her throat. "Ah, yes I was getting off topic there. Anyway, I'm not exactly sure if they're still here or not. After they left, the village went into a panic for some odd reason. I just hid in here until the commotion subsided."

"Maybe they're here!" Sora exclaimed, "I have to find them!" "So, little miss Rhea, are you on a journey again?" Merlinus asked. "Er...yes. We're helping him find his friends and then get him back to his own world..." "Another world? How delightful!...Is anyone else with you?" Rhea was reluctant to answer but did so anyway. "Just a few of the people from our journey before: Lyn, Lord Hector, Marcus, Oswin, Ninian, Erk, Serra, Wil, Matthew...Lord Eliw-" "Lord Eliwood is here?!? Oh my! You must tell me where!" "Don't you have a business to run?" "Oh, as of late I haven't been getting many customers. No one would miss me. Now come! I must say hello!" Merlinus exclaimed rushing out of the tent. _What have I done...?_ Rhea thought.

"I can't believe they sold him munny! I could have done that!" Sora said as he walked out with Rhea. "Quickly, Rhea! Where is he?" Merlinus demanded. _Most likely he's off somewhere with Ninian. I'd better not tell..._ "Um...well you may want to check...um...the woods?" "Splendid! Lord Eliwood! I must say hello to youuuu and give you many thaaaaaaanks!" Merlinus ran off in the direction of the woods.

"...He'll be back," Rhea said plainly. "Why'd you lie?" Sora asked curiously. "Well, Merlinus is really...attached...to Lord Eliwood," she sighed, "At times like this I really wish Hannah were still here. She'd keep him at bay." "Who's Hannah?" "She was an old fortune teller who was in our group for a short time. Basically Merlinus, and nearly every other person in our group, was scared of her. Aside from predicting what would happen in battle, she would always tell us our fortune," she giggled, "This one time, Hannah told Serra that she would grow a wart on her nose because she had called her an old hag. Serra had nightmares about it for several nights straight!"

"Whoa," Sora said amazed, "Is she dead?" "Well, I hope not. She just left the group suddenly, then Ninian's brother Nils took her place..." "Wow...so she can tell fortunes. That's cool. I wish she was here!" Rhea sighed. "So do I. Only she could really make Merlinus not act so...strange..."

Just then Merlinus' voice could be heard from the forest as well as screams by two others. "LORD ELIWOOOOOOOD!"

"Oh no...They really WERE in the woods...what have I done?" Rhea slapped her forehead. "Wow. He sounds like a girl from here..." Sora said. Rhea sank to her knees dramatically. "Lord Eliwood's gonna kill me..."

Just then Hector and Lyn ran up. "I heard someone scream Eliwood's name...Merlinus isn't...here...is he?" Hector asked. Rhea looked up at him and nodded. Lyn giggled. "Oh crap. We'd better go save Eliwood then. Where is he?" "Woods." "Let's go Lyn!" "Right behind you!"

"Wow. They act like he's going to chain himself to him or something," Sora said. "He just might," Rhea sighed, "anyway, they'll take care of it."

Sora smiled. "Should we continue searching then?" Rhea stood up and brushed herself off. "Yes, I suppose." "Great, let's go!" Sora said grabbing her hand and pulling her alongside with him so they wouldn't lose each other. Rhea blushed and followed quietly.

As they predicted they weren't anywhere in sight. "Talk about disappointing," Sora sighed. Rhea put her hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, they were only here yesterday. The next town is some days away. They couldn't have gotten far." "Yeah ok," Sora said while doing an uneasy smile. There was always someone or something making him feel better on a journey somehow. Rhea could tell he was feeling down and tried to change the subject. "Let's go get something to eat," she said. "As long as it isn't bread!" Sora responded. Rhea laughed, "Alright!"

"Did you just hear something?" Kairi asked while she was walking with Riku through the woods. "I think all this walking has finally gotten to ya, Kairi," Riku joked, even though he knew he was as tired as she probably was. "Very funny. What's to be paranoid about?" "Nothing. That's the point. But then...there were those heartless..." "You'd think they'd show up when we're around. Unless…somebody's controlling their every move." "Maybe so. Either way, we need to be prepared for anything. But you don't have to worry, with me around you're safe." "I know. Thank you Riku." "Sure thing. Anyway, it's getting pretty dark out..." "So we should camp. I was afraid of this. The other town is a few days away. So I guess we're going to be camping for a while." Kairi said, dreading the idea of sleeping on the ground. "Don't worry. We can start walking again first thing in the morning if you want." Riku said. "All right."

"It's them," Lucretia muttered to Irene who was secretly watching them from behind a thicket. "Perfect! Let's wait until they fall asleep. Then we strike!" Irene said quietly. "Why?" "Because then I can take their quintessence! The girl is all right, but the guy seems to have a considerable amount of it." "Oh," was the only reply Lucretia gave. She wasn't big on surprise attacks. Or any kind of attack at all. But attacking them while they were sleeping just sounded dirty.

The girls watched as they got themselves settled and ready to sleep. In a matter of minutes they were asleep. "This'll be a piece of cake!" With that Irene snapped her fingers and made a small army of heartless appear. "Now go! Feast upon them and I'll take care of the rest!" The heartless obeyed the command as they slowly made their way to Riku and Kairi.

A single shadow heartless crept up to Riku, only to be suddenly kicked away by him. "I knew it! Kairi! Get up!" Riku yelled brandishing his weapon. "Right!" Kairi said automatically waking up to the sight of danger.

"How?" Lucretia asked Irene. "Hmm...very interesting...it would seem that they knew this would happen..." Irene said to herself. Lucretia remained silent.

Kairi took out her keyblade. "Whoever you are, come out, we know you're here!" she demanded. Irene remained completely still and quiet. "Stop hiding!" "..." Irene finally stood up. Riku looked at the girl. "You-?!?"

"You're the girl from the shed!" Kairi pointed out to her disbelief. "Me too," Lucretia said. "Yes, and what of it?" Irene asked. "You...it can't be...you're..." Riku started. "What? Extremely cute?" Irene asked arrogantly. "You're just a kid!" "Hmph! You stupid, rude, son of a-" "How did you control the heartless!?" Kairi asked. "I don't have to explain myself to the likes of you!" "You'd better if you want to leave here in one piece!" Riku warned. "Oh please! I can take you on any day!" "Really? It looks like you just use the heartless. Or the other way around," Kairi said. "Of course! The heartless gather quintessence for me. And if they give me none, I take theirs." Irene explained.

"Quint-essence?" Riku repeated. "The very source of a person's being." "Sounds too much like a heart...please! Stop this! The heartless are known for using people!" Kairi cried. "Using people? Ha! Well I'll have you know that I'm no ordinary person! Or...I could say that I'm not really a person at all..." Irene said. "You're somebody's heartless?" "Of course not!" Irene cleared her throat, "I am a servant of Lord Nergal." "Lord Nergal? Who the hell is that?" Riku asked. "Oh, you shall know soon enough," Irene smirked. "No, we wont!" Kairi said quite rudely, "You're being used! You obviously don't know anything about the heartless!" "And YOU obviously don't know who you're dealing with! Hmph! I've had enough of you imbeciles! We're leaving now, Lulina!"

"Lucretia," Lucretia corrected.

"Lily!" Irene stormed off.

Kairi watched as the girl known as "Lucretia" followed, noting that the heartless disappeared as soon as they left. "Do you think she's possessed?" Kairi asked Riku. "...I think she's completely nuts. Crazy brat..." "Still, she's an enemy. We have to warn Sora as soon as we find him." "Yeah...I wonder if he knows about her already..." "Could. I hope not, she's kinda crazy," Kairi said pondering on whether Sora might have known or not.

"Hey, this stuff it pretty good!" Sora said when he and Rhea were eating, "I'm already on my second plate!" Rhea smiled lightly. "It's...just...mutton..." she said. "It's still good! Whatever it is!" "Yes, it is good." _I'd better not tell him what it is then..._ "So what is the stuff? Chicken?" "Um...yes! It's chicken! That's right!" "It's really good! Better than the chicken back at home! Do you guys have apple pie here?" Rhea laughed. "Lucky for you!" "Awesome! If only there was ice cream..."

"Hey kids!" Hector said walking over with Lyn. "Hi!" Lyn said. "...I'm not a kid..." Rhea responded. "Right. You guys on a date?" Hector asked. "Very funny! I'm just hungry!" Sora said. "So...how'd it go with Lord Eliwood?" Rhea asked, very eager to change the subject. "Well, we didn't tell him that you led Merlinus to them by incident ("But I almost did!" Hector added.), but for circumstances that I'm sure you understand, Merlinus will be accompanying us on our journey," Lyn explained.

"Now I feel even more like an add-on," Sora said sadly. "Don't worry about it," Rhea said. Hector sighed. "It's gonna be one crazy trip now, isn't it?" "Don't say that, Hector!" Lyn said, "Merlinus isn't THAT bad!" "Can he cook?" Sora asked curiously. The three looked at each other then back to Sora. "Actually, he can," Hector said. "Rather well," Lyn added. "WOOT! SCORE! No more gruel, no more bread! Now I'm actually gonna get fed!" Sora chanted happily causing a scene.

The three looked at him with surprise. Hector put his hand on Rhea's shoulder. "Good luck with him, kid!" He said teasingly. Lyn giggled. Rhea put her hand to her head and sighed. Sora was all too busy singing his song to really ask what they meant.

It was later on when everyone had met up in the middle of town. "What are we going do now?" Serra asked. "I must gather all my things from my tent for the trip ahead!" Merlinus said. "Take your time," Hector said. "Of course! This takes time and if I rush I may forget something!" "...Er, right. Hey Rhea, if we sleep at an inn tonight does that mean tomorrow Riku and Kairi will already be at the next town?" Sora asked curiously. "The only way for them to reach the town in time is if they're still traveling as we speak. But I highly doubt that." "Oh good." Sora sighed, "So we sleep at an inn?" "Tonight, anyway. Tomorrow we may have to set up camp." "Just like old times," Hector said. "Ewww! We have to sleep outdoors again? Erky! Don't let the bears get me!" Serra complained clinging to Erk. "That was nothing but a prank by Matthew, Serra. Let go of me," Erk said.

Sora then had a smirk on his face. He didn't think such stiff people would play pranks. "No more pranks, please. They're nothing but a waste of time," Rhea said. "She's only saying that because she was one of the victims of a prank," Hector whispered to Sora before starting to howl with laughter.

Sora looked shocked for a nanosecond before laughing it off with Hector; Hector immediately stopped when Rhea started glaring at them. Sora stopped laughing a while after Hector did. "Um, right. Guess we'd better get to the inn then."

"Yeah, let's go! I am soooooo tired Erk!" Serra complained. "That's wonderful, Serra," Erk said in a way that obviously meant that he really couldn't care less. "Are they a couple?" Sora muttered to Hector. "Yeah, though it REALLY may not seem like it." "Wow…"

It was just like one of the love manga Kairi read. She cherished those things so much. He missed her a lot, down to her girly taste in clothes to how he knew she was somewhere close just by the scent of her perfume. Of course he also missed Riku. He couldn't wait to tease him when they find him!

"Well, I'm going to head in then. G'night all!" Sain said, going the opposite direction of the inn and in the direction of a female villager. "Sain, you get back here this instant!" Kent called, running after him. Sora watched as they caused a scene.

The inn was pretty cozy. Just like the last one. Sora had felt the need to walk with Rhea to her room for the night.

"Thanks...for all you've done. You and everybody else. I promise I'll make it up to you," he said to her. Rhea blushed. "Ah...don't worry about it. We're glad to help." "Wait 'til you see Riku and Kairi!" She smiled. "They sound like really interesting people." "They are! I mean well Riku; he's pretty much the pretty boy! Everybody thinks he so perfect! But I can beat him!" Sora said while smiling, "And Kairi! She's fun to talk too! Even though I think she'd rather talk to a girl than me or Riku." Rhea smiled, "Ah, I see." "Will you be her friend?" Sora asked out of the blue. "Of course." "Thanks," Sora said as then made their way to her room.

"Well here we are..." She suddenly got nervous. _What's wrong with me? Just ask!_ She thought to herself. "Do you...do you want to come in for a second?" Sora looked a little confused. "Sure!" He decided it was better to talk to someone rather than go to his own room and not go to sleep for another 20 minutes.

Rhea closed the door behind them and then sat down on her bed and motioned for him to sit next to her. Sora did so. "Is this the part where we confide in each other like we're best friends?" he asked directing to a manga of Kairi's that he'd read. "Uh, I guess you could call it that...?" "Cool! Go ahead!" "Well...I really wanted to ask you if you were all right...if you had gotten used to how things are here..." "Not really. I really miss home. But I'm used to adapting to different worlds!" "Well, that's good then..." "I guess. I mean, it has to if you're friends with Donald and Goofy!" "Donald and Goofy?" "Mah dog! And duck!" "Oh, your pets then?" "Nah. They're my companions! They helped me fight the heartless, seal the doors, save Riku and Kairi and stuff," he said making himself comfortable by laying the rest of his body on the bed while looking at the ceiling. "A dog and duck who do things like humans..."Rhea laughs, "how interesting!" "Yeah! I know!" Sora said noting Rhea had laughed for the first time when he was around her.

He then started telling her all these stories and things he used to do. Riku, Kairi, the keyblade, traveling, Organization XIII, he told her everything.

He had fallen asleep even though he was the one doing most of the talking. _I'll let him rest here for the night...It must be so hard on him though...to try to get used to so many other places and now this world..._Rhea thought to herself. She then went to the small desk that was in her room, took out a small journal, and started writing in it.

_Dear log, it's been a while since I have written. A lot has happened in only a matter of days. It all started when I met this boy named Sora...  
_  
And she began to write about when the two first met...

* * *

Kchan: Ok, that's it for ch 3! Thank you very much for reading!  
Naomi: R&R.  
Kchan: Please! It'd be greatly appreciated!  
Naomi: Chapter 4  
Kchan: Yes! Stay tuned for chapter 4! (And I would NOT turn it into a yaoi. Honestly...) 


	4. Part One: Day of Destiny

Kchan929: Hello everyone one! Welcome to Ch 4 of BDW!  
Naomi: Woot.  
Kchan929: We're sorry for the wait, but boy do we have something special for you guys!  
Naomi: Two parts  
Kchan929: That's right! Ch 4 is a two parter! So why don't we just go ahead and get started!  
Naomi: Read.

* * *

_Chapter 4: Part One  
Day of Destiny_

A normal day in Destiny Island. Or at least that's what the people on Destiny Island thought. Sora had yawned and jumped on his spot on the paopu tree next to Riku. "Another boring day," he sighed. "Looks like it," Riku said stretching. "Everything's changed. You and Kairi too..."

"Oh, ya think so?"

"Yeah I do!..."

"Really? How so?"

"You're no fun anymore...and Kairi...she has boobs…"

Riku laughed. "Me? No fun? I guess we'll have to change that then! And yeah, she does have boobs now..." "How are you going to change your boring self?" Sora asked with curiosity. "Well, you're just gonna have to wait and see, now aren't ya?" Sora pouted not wanting to wait. "Fine. I'll just go... hide. And…you won't find me…Then you'll wish you had told me what you said." "Oh yeah, Sora! I'll totally regret it then!" Riku said sarcastically. "Hmph. I'm going to talk to the girl with the boobs!" Sora said meaning Kairi. Though he wondered to himself if Riku had any guilt in his heart what so ever? Making poor Sora doubt he'd ever have his old friend back! He jumped off the tree and walked off only to soon meet with Kairi.

"What's wrong? You two get into a fight?" she asked. "He's just being mean. I miss the old Riku." "I'll go talk to him!" Kairi suggested and she ran towards him. Sora just watched.

"Hey Riku!" she called to him cheerfully. "Hey Kairi," Riku said plainly. "What's wrong with Sora? What is it this time?" she asked knowing it was probably something silly. "Oh, he asked me something and I said he'd have to wait to get the answer." "What did he ask?" Kairi said curiously. "You're just gonna have to wait and see."

"You're way too mature!" Kairi laughed, "No wonder Sora is upset!" Riku pouted and crossed his arms. "Not like it's my fault. You guys are too immature!" "No, you sound like a kid!" Kairi giggled at his pout. _They look more like they're flirting with each other!_ Sora thought while watching them.

"Hmph! Look who's talking!" Riku said to Kairi. "Oh I'm sorry! Am I making you mad?" Kairi teased as Sora was waving his hands angrily in the background. Riku just remained silent and pouted looking as if he were 5 years old.

_This is so unfair! They're leaving me out on all the fun..._ Sora thought until a sly grin graced his face.

"Oh, I'm sorry" Kairi said playfully, enjoying how much she was getting to Riku as if he was Sora. "HI RIKU!" Sora yelled while pushing him on the back off the paopu tree.

"Whoa!" Riku lost his balance and fell into the ocean below. "SORA!"

Kairi watched in pure shock as the older teen was yelling at the younger one. "C'mon! You know it was fun! Or are you getting old, grandpa?" Sora teased as he ran away.

"You are so DEAD Sora!" Riku yelled getting out of the water and chasing after him.

_Wow, he's gotten faster! Gotta try to lose him!_ Sora thought while he ran to the other side of the island. "You're gonna have to run faster than THAT if you want to live!" "No I love life!" Sora yelled as he climbed a tree then grabbed a seagull egg. "Hey catch!" he screamed to Riku as he threw the egg.

"What the-" he easily dodged the airborne egg and continued to chase him. "Ooooh! Riku made an egg drop!" Sora said as he pointed to a "soon to be coming to its nest" seagull.

"You're the one who threw the egg in the first place!" Riku said running from the scene of the crime.

"Bye!" _Sora: 1 Riku: zip nada zilch zero! I reign supreme!_ Sora thought as he jumped down and started to head for the secret cave.

"I will GET you for that!" Riku yelled as the angry mother seagull was chasing him. He made his way to sanctuary inside the secret cave. "Wow, that took you long enough," Sora said with one of his trademark smiles, "You tired, grandpa?" Riku caught his breath. "Shut...up...and c'mere!" He wrapped his arm around Sora's neck and gave him a noogie. "Owwww!! I'm sooorry!! Truce! White flag!" laughed Sora.

Riku let go. "Now how ya like that?!?" he laughed. "My head hurts! ALOT! You should be feeling guilty!" Sora joked rubbing his head. "Yeah, well I don't! You sent a seagull after me so I feel I got my revenge!" "Well you deserved it! First, you act all high and mighty then you got Kairi at all your jokes! Jerk!" Sora pouted. "Oh really?" He pats Sora on the head. "I'm sooooowwy!"

Sora slapped Riku's hand away. "Stop treating me like I'm a baby because I'm not! I've grown a lot!" "Well, excuuuse me, sir!" Riku joked. Sora stuck out his tongue while walking over to the drawings he and Kairi use to make.

"This brings back memories. Remember when we went here and talked about monsters...?" "Yeah, and you were scared of the monster I told you about."

"That was a long time ago!" Sora said being red in the face. Riku laughed. "Of course, of course." "I've fought worse! Like you!"

"True."

"I almost miss going on adventures."

"Yeah, I kinda do too..."

Sora then walked over to the door knocking on it. "I always thought it was strange having a door inside a cave..."

"But then we learned why it's here!"

"Yeah... I can't believe it's been almost year already...since it all happened..." "

Yeah! Now we have to make up a year's worth of things! Like everybody's birthdays! So whad'you get me?"

"What? I haven't had time to buy any presents, you dweeb!"

"But I got you one! And I've been sleep for most of the year!" Sora complained. Riku sighed. "Alright, we'll go to the store one day and I'll buy you whatever you want. Ok?" Sora eyes lit up. One good thing about Riku was he was always so lazy with buying presents so he usually did shopping sprees. _He's lucky it's not Kairi asking or he'd be in there all day!_ Sora thought while snickering to himself.

"Riku!" a voice known as Kairi's called in the opening of the cave, "My boat got stuck to the dock again!"

"Oh boy, not again! Looks like it's up to us again, huh?"

"You go ahead, I'll meet you there!"

"Alright. Let's go then Kairi!" Riku said walking out of the cave with her. Sora smiled until they walked out. He sat down. "Sure I've saved everything... somehow it doesn't seem worth it..." he muttered as he picked up a stone and threw it at the wall full of pictures.

Once the stone hit the wall and landed on the floor it split. "Weird...huh?!" Sora yelled as a violent spiral portal appeared.

"Ah, what a lovely day this turned out to be," Rhea said to herself as she stopped to take in the scenery. She stood atop a grassy hill that overlooked Castle Pherae. "...Brings back so many memories...This was definitely a good time to visit."

It has been almost a year since the defeat of the dark druid, Nergal. After the battle was over, Rhea decided to go traveling on her own once again. _"I need to train just a little bit more. But don't worry, I might be back!"_ she had told her companions. Though she knew not everyone would be there, she thought it'd be nice to see some of her old friends.

"It's been so long...I hope they received the letter I had written..." Rhea had sent a letter in advance to Castle Pherae. She felt that it would be better for Lord Eliwood and the rest of her friends at Castle Pherae to know earlier that she'd be in the area around that time instead of surprising them. _That way, they may prepare a nice meal! _She thought.

Combing her long brown hair with her hand, she pulled her new blue cape over her head and started walking.

The same spiral portal that appeared in Destiny Island had appeared in the sky above the trail Rhea was walking. Rhea stopped to look up at the sky. "What in the world is that?" she asked to herself.

Before she knew it, a kid flew from it. "AHHHHHH!" "What in the-" was all she could say before the kid landed on her. "Ow!" was all the kid could say before he got up.

"Oh, sorry!" he said then started to look around. "Ow...ok, it didn't say anything about the sky raining kids. I'm gonna have to give that fortune-teller a piece of my mind!" Rhea said sitting up and brushing off dust. "I'm not a kid! And you don't look any older!"

"I'm 17, mind you!"

Sora's eyes widened. _NO WAY!_ It was hard enough having Riku being older than him but now this mean lady! "S-so am I!" he responded. Rhea could tell he was lying, "Yeah, ok..."

Sora was getting angry. She was as bad as Riku! He got up and started trailing around. "RIKU!!! KAIRI!!" Where the heck was he?

Rhea stood up. "What in the world are you doing?" she asked. "I'm seeing if my friends are nearby! They can't be far!" "Um...if I'm not mistaken...you just fell from the sky...out of some weird...portal thing..." Sora looked up to see no portal. "Oh yeah. Was I the only one who came out!?" "I probably would've been in much more pain if any more came out..."

Sora looked disappointed. Was he all by himself? Would Riku and Kairi notice? "So...um...why DID you fall from the sky like that?" "I guess because of the portal." "I see...so then...I guess you're not from around here?" Sora shook his head, "Where am I?" Rhea blinked. "This is Pherae. It's a part of the continent of Elibe," she answered. Sora blinked. "Yeah, you're definitely new around here." "Can you help me? Please?"

Rhea never could resist someone in need. She thought for a moment. "Well, I'm not sure what I could do exactly, but alright. You should probably come with me. I'm on my way towards Castle Pherae," she finally said. Sora nodded. He had no idea what that was but he's been in situations like this before. "Well, alright then. Let's go," Rhea said starting to walk. Sora nodded as he followed.

They were walking quite a way so Sora decided to introduce himself. "I'm Sora," he said while walking. "Oh! I'm sorry, I hadn't realized that I hadn't introduced myself," Rhea took off her hood, "I'm Rhea. Pleased to meet you." Sora stared at her for a minute. She looked kinda pretty for a serious person. "Same here." he smiled. "Alright. Let's go," she said, smiling a little bit.

As they walked no more words were exchanged until they reached their destination. "Here we are," Rhea announced. Sora looked at it. "I really am in a different world…" They approached the gate, which was guarded by two soldiers. The soldiers looked at them skeptically. Rhea stepped forward. "I am Rhea. I believe Lord Eliwood received a letter upon my arrival?"

The two soldiers looked at each other. "THE Lady Rhea? The same Lady Rhea who helped Lord Eliwood?" one soldier said. "Ah, yes, that's me," Rhea said. The soldiers gossiped amongst themselves.

Sora blinked. Was this lady THAT popular?

Suddenly a voice boomed from behind the soldiers. "Oh, just let her in already!" Rhea smiled," I know that voice..." "Y-yessir, Sir Marcus!" the soldiers cried.

As the gate was opened by the guards Sora stared at the person assumed to be Sir Marcus. He was followed by a young man with shaggy hair that covered his face. "Well now, if it isn't little Miss Rhea!" Marcus said. "S-Sir Marcus! Sir Lowen!" Rhea exclaimed. "Rhea? Is it really you? It's an honor to see you again!" the shaggy-haired one known as Lowen said. "Likewise, Sir Lowen!" Rhea said happily.

"Rhea," Sora finally decided to speak up after they said their greetings, "Is there anywhere to get a map?" Marcus looked down at Sora. "Eh? Who's this kid?" "Don't call me a kid! I'm a teenager!"

Rhea sighed and said, "His name is Sora. He's... not from around here..." "Well that's apparent what with those garments," Marcus said. "What's wrong with my clothes?!!" Sora instantly snapped back, tired of the snobby people he's talked to so far. "You guys are the ones dressed like you belong in a medieval fair freak show!"

They all stared at each other, clearly unaware of what he was talking about. "Freak show or not, it is clearly your attire that is not from around here," Marcus said.

"Hmph!" Sora blandly said looking away. "Anyway, he's trying to find his way back home so I guess he needs a map," Rhea said. "And you're helping him, Lady Rhea?" Lowen asked. "Well, yes, I would like to help him," Rhea responded. "I'm right here you know!" Sora yelled. These people were so rude. He couldn't wait to find Riku and Kairi and get out of here! _But how? This place looks so old!_ "Is there a payphone here?" Sora asked. They all stared at him. "Pay...fone?" Lowen repeated.

"Nooooooooooooooo!" Sora moaned to himself while holding his head, "I'm stuck in the boonies with underdeveloped people with no Donald or Goofy or Riku or Kairi! I hate this!" "Anyway, come inside, Rhea! You must be tired from your travels! " Marcus said. "Well, just a little…thanks," Rhea said then addressed Sora, "Come on, they should have a map inside."

Sora nodded and attentively followed.

The castle still seemed the same to Rhea. Big and elegantly decorated. The perfect place for a royal like Lord Eliwood. Definitely not the life for her. Being cooped up in a huge castle everyday just wasn't her cup of tea.

"So Lady Rhea," Lowen decided to ask, breaking the silence," What exactly HAVE you been doing these past months?" Rhea smiled and simply said, "Training." Sora decided to listen to see if he could find out more about this area he was in. Just by looking at the castle everything looked so royal. "Ah, so you went back to your master then?" Marcus asked. "Well, just for a while. Afterwards I started traveling on my own and later joined a small group of mercenaries," Rhea explained.

Small group of mercenaries? _Rhea barely looks like she could hold a sword_! Sora thought. But it wasn't his place to think that. _I mean Mulan was a great sword fighter. And Kairi was pretty good too. _"Ah yes, that's just like you, Rhea!" Marcus said, "giving out commands to others..." "...I fought too," Rhea said. "YOU FIGHT NOW?!?" Lowen and Marcus exclaimed. "I guess the dagger attached to my belt isn't very noticeable then." "Really, where?" Sora squinted his eyes, "OH THERE IT IS!" "I thought that was just a little knife for cutting food and such things," Lowen said uneasily. Rhea sighed. "Is the idea of me fighting just that unbelievable?" "No, it just looks like a butter knife, really" Sora said not making things any better.

Rhea quickly glared at him then turned her attention back to the two knights of Pherae. "I guess I'll have to show you guys what I can do then." "How?" Sora asked wondering if there were any heartless here in this world. "You ask too many questions, boy," Marcus said before Rhea could respond. "If Lady Rhea says she can fight now, then she most certainly can, and magnificently at that I'll bet!" Lowen added in. Rhea blushed, "I'm not THAT good..."

"Here we are at the throne room!" Marcus announced, as they approached two giant doors. As he opened them, Rhea whispered to Sora, "Ok, right now I advise you not to speak unless spoken to, and PLEASE, don't do anything weird."

The throne room was as elegant as Rhea remembered down to its decorated pillars and large stained glass windows. Sitting on the throne was an elegantly dressed purple-haired woman. Marcus and Lowen walked up to the throne and bowed to her. "Lady Eleanora, we have brought Rhea, and um... a guest of hers," Marcus said to her. The marquess's wife stared at Sora warmly expecting some kind of introduction.

"..."

"..."

"...?"

"..."

Rhea sighed then walked up to the throne (dragging Sora along), and curtsied. "It is an honor to see you again, my lady. Ah...this is..." "..." Rhea twitched. "Introduce yourself please..." "THANK YOU. For TALKING to ME, RHEA, THE HOLY GREAT ONE. I wouldn't want to be out of line! I'm really nobody, really," Sora said with a definite attitude. "Eheh, he's not from this world, my lady," Rhea explained trying to hide her twitching eye. "Not from this world?" Lady Eleanora asked. "No, not really. See my clothes are made out of more than green cotton as if I were an elf," Sora said obviously making fun of Rhea's clothes. It wasn't like him but he was mad and confused and embarrassed at the same time. "But of course, I'm stupid for even thinking about things that don't exist right, Rhea?"

Rhea remained silent; something she tends to do when she's angry. "Is that kid gonna be alright?" Lowen whispered to Marcus. "Well, we'll see when Rhea explodes and he's still here," Marcus joked. "I see..." Sora smiled proud of his accomplishment, not knowing later on he'd feel guilty. "I'm Sora!" "Sora, what an interesting name..." Lady Eleanora said. "It means sky!" "Sky?...the fortune teller was right..." "Fortune teller?" Rhea asked. "Yes, a very shady man told me that the person from the sky would come and save us from chaos!" _Yes finally! Recognition!_ Sora thought in his mind.

Rhea crossed her arms. "Hmm... well, it does fit. He DID fall from the sky...on me..." _But still...HIM? Save US from chaos? THIS little foul-mouthed lout? Unbelievable. _

"I accept-" Sora began. "Milady, surely it's another someone who is supposed to fall from the sky?" Marcus asked curiously. Rhea tried not to laugh. _Took the words right out of my mouth. _She thought.

"If it was, the person would be here instead of me, ok!? It has to be me! I've been doing this since I first got my blade!" Sora protested. "Your blade? You must be the person then. To be at your age and to fall from the sky. Not only that, but to have a blade!" Lady Eleanora said happily. If the prophet were right then he'd be able to help with whatever was to come.

Rhea looked away a little bit. "Say..." she began, "where's Lord Eliwood if I may ask?" "Tending the garden with Ninian." "Ah, I see..." "As we wait, milady, I shall attend to the 'other thing,'" Marcus said, winking at Rhea. "And I'll go prepare the feast!" Lowen announced. After bowing to Lady Eleanora again, they quickly departed.

The queen looked at Rhea and Sora who remained standing there. "Rhea, why don't you show Sora around town. I'm sure you guys didn't look around much while coming here," Lady Eleanora suggested. Sora cringed at the thought of putting up with Miss Mean. "But...sure...let's go..." Rhea said heading towards the door. Sora followed her but not without looking back.

The town was as lively as it always was: People talking, chatting with friends, children at play, merchants selling their merchandise. Rhea walked ahead of Sora at a somewhat quick pace, not even bothering to see if he was behind her or not. The town seemed awfully busy to Sora as well: People talking, chatting with friends, children at play, merchants selling their merchandise. Even if Sora was lagging behind to take in everything.

Rhea finally decided to slow down a little bit. "Busy, huh?" she said trying to start a conversation. "Yeah, is it always like this?" Sora asked deciding it must be hard living life in the fast lane. "Pretty much. All towns are like this, even the smaller ones," she responded. "Wow. Do you think we can find Riku and Kairi?" "Your friends? Well...maybe..." "Great, let's start!" Sora said now in a happier mood. With a bit of hope they could be in this bustling town. "Alright," Rhea agreed. _Not like there's anything better to do... _

"Ok, say if somebody was lost where would they go when they reached here?"

"Well, I'm not sure, the town is mostly shops, houses, and inns here."

"Well... where would you go?"

"I guess I would check the inn and ask questions there..."

Sora smiled. "Ok," he said while putting his hands behind his head, "Lead the way." Rhea nodded and did so.

"Ha...I guess they're still in business here," Rhea said as they arrived at the inn, "This is the inn I stayed in when I first arrived in Pherae almost a year ago...that was when the city was attacked by bandits..." "What happened a year ago?" "Well, I stayed here and met a girl named Rebecca-I wonder if she's still here since her father runs the place-and the next day, the town was attacked by bandits. That's when I first met Sir Lowen who rescued us and took us to Lord Eliwood," she explained. "We should check!" "Mmhmm," Rhea agreed quietly.

Sora ran to the counter "Hi is Rebecca here?" "What do you want with my daughter?" the innkeeper asked. Rhea walked up. "Please don't mind him," Rhea said. "Rhea! Good to see you again!" the innkeeper said cheerfully, "Wanna book a room?" "Likewise, and no, I'm afraid. We're looking for friends of his, but is Rebecca here, if I may ask?" "Rhea?"

Sora looked over to find a green haired girl standing next to a door. "Rebecca!" Rhea said. "Ah, there you are Rebecca!" the innkeeper said, "We have guests that aren't staying here, but they're still guests!" "Rhea!" Rebecca said while pulling her into a hug, "It's been too long! Father! When did she get here? How long are you staying here? How have you been!?" "I've been great I suppose," Rhea said smiling lightly. "I'm so happy!" Rebecca then turned her attention to the oddly clothed boy. "Oh, I'm sorry. Are you here to stay the night?" she asked not wanting to ask the weird question of what his clothes were made of.

"Rhea," Sora said blandly not wanting to explain that he fell out from the sky. "No Rebecca, he's with me. This is Sora," Rhea explained, "He's not from around here." "No kidding," the innkeeper said as he had been staring at Sora since he suddenly popped up in front of him asking such a random question. "You're not?" Rebecca asked, "Where are you from?" "Over yonder," Sora said sarcastically. "Oh. How far..." "...Right, anyway, isn't there something you wanted to ask Sora?" Rhea said changing the subject. "Yeah! Um…have you seen two people in here with clothing like me? One's tall and has silver hair another one is in a pink dress with red hair!" Rebecca looked at her father. "Can't say that I have young man," the innkeeper said.

"Oh..." Sora said looking down then put his face up in a bright smile that could compare to the sun. "Thanks. C'mon Rhea, let's try a store or something." "Father could I come along?" Rebecca asked even more curious about what was going on. "Sure, I've got things pretty much covered around here, but make sure you're back by nightfall!" he said. "Yes father!" she replied then went to Rhea's side. "Ok let's go!" Sora was so confused.

"Hmmm, where shall we check next, then?" Rhea asked to herself. "Why don't we check the shops? If I were lost I'd want a map," Rebecca suggested despite Rhea doing her self-questioning. "Me too."

"Sounds good."

With Rhea in the lead again they found themselves heading towards the shops nearby. "Sora, is it? You're looking for your friends, right? Are you sure they're here?" Rebecca asked. "Well not really," Sora replied in a confused way. "We're just checking to make sure before returning to the castle," Rhea explained. "Oh! Did you get to see Lord Eliwood and Lady Ninian? They look so nice together!" Rebecca exclaimed. Rhea shook her head. "Not yet, but it's nice to hear that they're doing well." "The best! I wish they'd just hurry up and get married!" "Married?" Sora asked. "Yup." "How old are they?" "Older than us, that's for sure," Rhea said. "Man," Sora sighed. He hated being young.

"So Rebecca, do you fight too?" Sora asked. "Yeah!" "Rebecca is a very skilled archer," Rhea said. "Whoa, that sounds cool!" Rebecca smiled at the compliment. "Thanks! Rhea you're really strong too!" _Again with the Rhea compliments…_ Sora though. Did they SERIOUSLY expect him to believe this girl was strong? _I mean...a dagger?_ "N-not really, all I did was give commands! But," she looked at her dagger, "Hopefully I'll get...better..." "Without you we'd be attacking like a bunch of berserks Rhea!" Rebecca pointed out knowing how Rhea never gave herself enough credit.

"Half of them WERE berserk. Remember that one bandit with the berserk staff?"

"How could I forget?!?"

Sora admitted watching the girls chat away was pretty time consuming for the most part. "...I'm so glad we were able to finish him off before Lord Hector killed someone!" Sora gave Rhea a crazy look. "Lord Hector is rather…reckless," Rebecca explained. Rhea sighed. "Tell me about it."

Sora mused, "It's not like he's crazy, right?" There was silence for a moment before Rhea finally responded, "Of course not."

"….You don't sound so sure…"

"Lord Hector is a fine, um, person."

"If you say so," Sora still wasn't convinced though.

"Oh look! Here's a nice store with a couple of maps!" Rebecca pointed out. Rhea walked over. "Looks like one of your problems is solved at least," she said to Sora. Sora nodded and checked the store out. Not only were there maps but other tools for travelers. It was hard to just look at one thing. Rhea began looking at merchandise, picking out supplies she needed.

"Hey gramps," Sora stated to the old man running the shop, "Have you seen two people here one with red hair and a pink dress and one with silver hair and aqua eyes?" "Gramps?!?" the shopkeeper said angrily. "Sora!" Rhea said angrily as well. "Sorry, I mean sir," Sora said. Rhea sighed. "Nope, haven't seen anybody by that description," the shopkeeper answered. "We'd like to buy a map also. And these," Rhea added handing him the things she was purchasing. "Why certainly, young lady!" "Man. We're running out of places to go." "Don't worry Sora. If anyone can help you Rhea can! I'll try my best too!" Rebecca said.

"Thank you very much!" the shopkeeper said as Rhea handed him the money, "And here you go!" He gave her the map. "Thank you." "You think I have to travel that whole map?" Sora asked. "By yourself?" Rebecca responded.

"I've traveled before. A lot."

"That would be an impossible feat, Sora. It took us MONTHS to travel as far as we did." Rhea stated. "I'll still do it." Sora said determined. "Wow. You really care about your friends," Rebecca said shocked that he'd state something as daring as he did. _It's sayings like that that get people killed by bandits. _Rhea thought.

"Shall we head back to the castle then?" Rebecca asked. "Mmhmm," Rhea nodded, "It's been a while since you've seen everyone too, right?" "Yeah" Rebecca admitted. "Let's be on our way then," Rhea said smiling lightly.

They made their way to the castle to find Eliwood and Ninian with the queen. "L-Lord Eliwood! Ninian!" Rhea exclaimed as they approached the throne. "Ah Rhea, it's good to see you again," Lord Eliwood said with a smile. Ninian who stood by his side also smiled and quietly said," Hello." "I see you brought guests of your own," Eliwood continued, "Rebecca and...?"

"Sora."  
"He's the one the prophet talked about," Lady Eleanora explained. "Ah, I see. It's a pleasure to meet you," he responded politely. "Yeah," Sora said blandly, in his heart hoping not all these people were the same. It would be nice to see someone with SOME youth in here.

Just then, both Marcus and Lowen returned to the throne room. "The feast is prepared, milord," Lowen said cheerfully. "And the other guests have arrived," Marcus added. "Other...guests?" Rhea said looking at Eliwood. "With an occasion as special as this, we had to invite the others!" he said with a smile.

"Oh! This is so great! It's been a while!" Rebecca excited exclaimed. "Yes, this will be interesting..." Rhea said. At that moment, the throne room doors swung open, and a pink-haired girl ran in. "RHEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAA!!!!" she squealed, pushing Sora out of the way and hugging Rhea so tightly they both nearly fell down. "S-Serra!" "Hey!" Sora yelled as he fell on the floor. It was like slow motion; out of nowhere he heard a noise and before he could fully turn around someone pushed him down. "Serra!" Rebecca scolded pointing out Sora.

"Oh he's alright!" Serra said cheerfully. "That's not for you to say, Serra," Rhea pointed out. "So how have you been, Rhea? It's been so long since I've seen you!" she said giving Rhea another hug. "Serra, stop being rude," came a voice. Everyone turned their attention to the door as a purple haired boy entered the room. "Erky! Look! It's Rhea!" Serra exclaimed. "Nice...to see you again...Erk," Rhea said in between breaths. "Likewise. And Serra, let her go," Erk commanded. "Oh, fine, you're so boring!" Serra said releasing Rhea.

"Erk! You look the same as ever!" Rebecca teased. "Uh, so do you?" Erk said. He then walked over to Sora and offered him a hand. "Don't mind her. She's a little...crazy," Erk explained. "Oooh, you're so mean Erk!" Serra yelled. _Not as mean as you!_ Sora could help but to think. "Thanks!" Sora thought to himself again. He wanted someone youthful but not loud. Someone actually beat Selphie.

"Geez, what is with all this noise?!? Serra? Did you ruin something?" came a booming voice. "Who could that be?" Rhea said sarcastically. Through the door came a giant blue-haired man followed by a man in shining armor and a man in a red cape. "Lord Hector! Oswin! Matthew!" Rhea said. "Huh? I thought a heard a little voice," Hector said, "sounded a bit like a mouse..." Sora tried holding in his laughter at that comment.

"Lord Hector! How can you be so mean! It's Rhea!" Serra pouted. Rhea sighed. "Not the same little kid who helped lead us to victory so many times? Not THAT Rhea!" Matthew walked up to Rhea and started walking around her then said finally, "Yep! It's her milord!" "You knew the whole time didn't you, milord?!?" Serra asked. "Of course I did! Who could forget this kid!?!?" "Nice to see you too, Lord Hector," Rhea said politely.

"This is so nice!" Rebecca added. "Great! Everyone's here! Now we can start the feast!" Lowen said. "Feast?!? Alright! Let's go!" Hector exclaimed. "Yay! C'mon Rhea! You have to tell everyone where you've been all this time!" Serra said wrapping her arm around Rhea's. "Sora, this is Lord Hector, Erk, Serra, Matthew, Oswin, Lord Eliwood, and Ninian" Rebecca pointed out. "Yeah I noticed" Sora muttered. "Who's Sora?" Hector asked. "That kid with the weird hair apparently," Serra replied. "Serra," Erk warned. Sora out of patience decided to ignore the pink haired chick and speak up. "I'M Sora and my hair is NOT weird!" he protested. "Whatever you say strange kid! C'mon Erk! Let's go eat! Lead the way Sir Lowen!" Serra said, grabbing Erk and following Lowen. "Alright! Let's go eat!" Hector said following. Everyone else followed suit.

Rhea who could tell Sora was upset put her hand on his shoulder and said, "Don't let her get to you. She's always like that." Sora shrugged his shoulder away walking ahead murmuring like a little child. "I'm not strange, shoot, I think your strange- who the heck has pink hair- I'm not strange..." Rhea sighed and followed.

After the feast, which consisted of mostly everyone explaining what they've been doing over the past months, and asking Sora odd questions. Soon, it was nighttime, and the rooms were being prepared for the night.

"Becca! Do you have to go so soon?" Serra asked Rebecca. "I'm afraid so! I promised Father I'd come home." "Aww, we HAVE to do something together sometime! And you're coming too Rhea! And you too Ninian!" Serra exclaimed. "I'd love to?" Ninian said confused. "Sure," Rhea answered.

"I'd love too! And...I really don't want to miss the opportunity. I guess I'll ask my father!"

"Yeah yeah! See if you can come back tomorrow!"

Rebecca nodded her head. "Right! See you guys! And Serra, you be nicer to everyone!" was the last thing she said as she ran off.

"What does she mean? I'm the nicest out of all of you! Except you Rhea!" Serra said giving her a hug. Rhea sighed. Sora kept in a sarcastic remark after all the ones he made at dinnertime. "Um, could I just go to sleep now?" "I'll escort you," Rhea said, eager to get out of Serra's tight embrace.

"Thanks," Sora muttered following her down the halls. "Don't take looooong!" Serra yelled after her. "Of course not," Rhea replied though she was thinking of taking all the time it took just so she wouldn't have to return quickly.

After a few minutes of them walking silently through the halls of Castle Pherae, Rhea finally decided to start a conversation. "This day has been pretty...eventful, hasn't it?" she asked. "I'd hate it if eventful is always like that but I don't care. As soon as I find my friends I have to find a way to leave this world!" Sora said only having that priority on his mind while being humiliated, insulted, and degraded. No other world would be THAT rude! _Demented people_ Sora thought. Rhea sighed. "Look, I apologize for the rudeness, on behalf of them...and me. All those things I said, they weren't necessary. And they're really not bad people..."

Sora started feeling guilty. Rhea really was trying to make amends. He was even starting to feel the guilt for making fun of her earlier, he was really no better than the demen-...people. "I'm sorry too..." Rhea smiled. "Forget it... and…we'll find your friends... I'll make sure of it..." Soras smiled back noting her smiles were almost always sad. "Thanks, really." "Don't mention it. Ah! Here we are..."

Sora opened the door to find a luxurious room that would look even more like heaven with a ddr machine. "Wow...thanks..." "No problem...well...good night then..." Rhea said heading toward the door and slowly closing it.

* * *

Kchan929: Ok guys that's it for part one!  
Naomi: R&R  
Kchan929: That's right! Please rate and review guys! Later!


	5. Part Two: A New Journey

Kchan: Hello everyone! And welcome to the exciting conclusion to chapter 4!  
Naomi: Wooooo...  
Kchan: Alright so let's begin!  
Naomi: ...

* * *

_Chapter 4: Part Two_

_A New Journey_

It was the next morning and no matter how different the world was it still had the annoying chirping birds in the morning that like to wake Sora up. He tried his best to ignore them and close his eyes again while snuggling into the nice soft bed.

After greeting the other guests of Castle Pherae, Rhea finally made it to Sora's door and knocked on it. "Sora! It's time to get up!" she called. "No thanks!" Sora yelled on his side. He was still tired; Hector's voice was so loud even from 5 rooms away.

"C'mon seriously! We have to get ready to go!"

"SERIOUSLY. I need some sleep."

"I'm not afraid to have Lord Hector break the door down with his axe," Rhea warned. _Seeing as how he'd be the one to get in trouble..._she thought to herself._ Who cares?_ Sora thought. Knowing that he wouldn't be the one getting in trouble. Or at least not the only one getting into it.

Serra and Erk soon walked up. "He's STILL in there?" she asked. "Apparently," Rhea replied. "Geez! How lazy can he BE?!?" Serra then started banging on the door. "C'MON GET UP! THEY WON'T SERVE BREAKFAST BECAUSE YOU'RE STILL IN THERE!" _Good, starve._ Sora thought. "Grrrr...Erk burn down the door!" Serra commanded. "I don't think so," Erk plainly replied. Rhea sighed. "Guys just forget it. Let's just go. He'll come when he comes... Unless he gets lost..." "Ok, ok I'm up!" Sora declared not feeling like walking everywhere just to find the dining room. "Nice work Rhea! You're always good with stuff like that!" Serra exclaimed. Rhea shrugged.

Sora got out the bed and walked out of the door to come face to face with the 3 people. "Morning." "Good morning..." Rhea said. "Why good mooooorning sleepy head! Did you enjoy your first night in a royal bed of Pherae?" Serra asked. "It's no different from any other bed Serra. The room just looks better," Erk stated.

"It was comfy though. Really comfy. More comfortable than my bed."

"That bed was made with the fluffiest feathers!" Serra explained. "How exactly do you know that?" Erk asked. "I know my beds," Serra said. "That's wonderful Serra, let's go now," Rhea said before she could say anything else. "Mmhmm! Come along Erk!" "..."

It was pretty lively that morning-everyone was awake and most were chipper. Breakfast was the same as dinnertime: everyone talking with one another, and asking Sora very unusual questions.

After breakfast, everyone went to the throne room to talk. "So Rheaaaaaa, what are you gonna do now? Are you gonna leave us again?" Serra asked. Rhea nodded, "I'm going to help Sora find his friends. I'll be back after that..." "All by yourself?" Lady Eleanora asked. "I...I guess so..."  
"That's where you're wrong!" Serra exclaimed.

"Wha-?"

"I'm coming too! And so is Erk!"

"What!?!" Sora said repeating Rhea.

"We're joining you on your journey! It'll be like old times!" Serra said cheerfully, "It'd be a lot easier with a cleric like me! And...Erk's useful too." "This actually doesn't sound like a bad idea, eh Lord Hector?" Matthew asked. "I guess..." Hector replied. "I actually couldn't agree more," Eliwood chimed in, "There's no telling where your friends could be and there are bandits and who knows what else out there."

"I'm not afraid of bandits! As if I have anything to take anyways!"

"The bandits wouldn't know that! And they'd kill anyone who got in their way anyway! You two need bodyguards!" Serra said. "But why volunteer me?" Erk asked.

"It's not like you have anything better to do."

"Serra, I have plenty to-"

"No excuses! You're going!"

_Unbelievable..._Rhea thought. _How'd he get stuck with her?_ Was all Sora could think of. Rhea who could pretty much tell what he was thinking simply said, "Long story."

"It's settled then! We'll be joining your adventure! Are you coming too Lord Hector? Sir Oswin? Matthew?" Serra asked the other Ostians. "Well, someone's gotta make sure you don't do anything foolish!" Matthew teased. "If Eliwood's going, then I guess I can put up with you guys for one more 'adventure,' "Hector replied. "But Lord Hector! What about Ostia?!" Oswin said, "Someone has to take control!"

"Then you do it."

"I have to follow you, milord."

"Then we'll figure it out later! I'm going!"

Oswin sighed, "Very well."

Sora looked at Hector as if he were crazy, but decided it was useless to get him out of it if he wasn't even going to stay out of it even for his country.

''Yay! Now it's a real adventure! This'll be so much fun!" Serra exclaimed, "We have our two lords coming, Rhea, Erky, and you other guys!"

Just then a soldier came in the throne room, whispered something Marcus then walked out. "Heh, could be more coming along," Marcus said, "We have more guests."

"M-More guests?" Rhea said looking at Eliwood, "How many people did you tell that I was coming?" "Oh just those of Ostia... and Caelin," Eliwood answered cheerfully. _Caelin? That can only mean that...I get to see Lyn again! _Rhea thought to herself. A small smile moved across her face. Meanwhile, a frown moved on Sora's. More people would only slow him down! "This isn't a girl party!"

Of course, everyone's attention was to the throne room doors as they began to open. "Where is she? Where's Rhea? My lovely little Rheaaaaaa!" A brown-haired man clad in green armor entered the room. "Oh no..." Rhea slowly inched behind Sora. "Oh my goodness! Sain it's you!" Serra exclaimed.

"AH! Lovely Serra! It is good to see you again!"

"Who are you?" Sora asked the weird man. "Who am I? Who are you?" Sain asked, then noticing Rhea hiding behind him, "RHEA! There you are!" "...Hello Sain..." _So much for hiding..._ "Ah, it's great to see you again, my lovely rosebud..." Rhea twitched at the comment.

"Your boyfriend Rhea?" Sora asked out of curiosity. "What, of course!" Sain said cheerfully. "When was THIS decided?!?!" Rhea asked. "When we first met of course!"

"Ignore him," a man said while making his way to the flirt. "Sain can't you behave right for once? You're embarrassing," the man stated annoyed. "And you're NOT embarrassing Kent! Wait, I'm embarrassing?" Sain said to the redheaded man who appeared. "Sir Kent!" Rhea said. _Thank goodness..._ "Ah. Rhea," the man who was apparently Kent said calmly, "How you've grown. It's amazing." Rhea blushed. "Th-thanks..." "You're right Kent! She HAS grown!" Sain agreed. "Ugh," Rhea said.

"Hey you guys are right! You really HAVE grown Rhea!" came another voice. "Look! It's Wil!" Serra exclaimed. The brown-haired archer cheerfully waved to everyone then walked up to Rhea. "It's been way too long, y'know? How are you?" he asked. Rhea smiled. "Just great Wil." "Wil, huh?"

Rebecca who had returned to the castle that morning walked up to the archer with her hands on her hips. "R-rebecca!" Not having anywhere to hide he quickly responded,"H-hi." "Is that all you can say?" "Hi Rebecca?" Rebecca pouted then sighed, "It's great to see you again." "Ah...y-yeah! You too!" _I thought she was gonna kick me again! _Wil thought then let out a sigh of relief.

_All of a sudden it feels a bit crowded..._ Sora thought but stayed quiet.

Rhea noticed someone's head peeking out from behind the throne door. "... Florina?" "Ah!" the head disappeared. "Florina's here? Florina! Come out!" Serra exclaimed walking behind the door and pulling Florina out. "Hey I was wondering where she went! She was right behind me!" Wil said. "Florina you don't have to be shy. You know almost everybody here," Kent said almost apathetically. "I...I know..."she said shyly, "It's...nice to see you all again..." "Yay! Now Florina's here! We're still missing somebody!" Serra said. "And who would that be?" Kent dared ask. "Where's Lady Lyn, Sain!?!" Serra demanded. "Why ask me?" Sain asked. _Did Lyn not come? Was she too busy? _Rhea thought.

"Where's who?" a lady said as she came in, her long green hair almost touching the floor. "Lady Lyn. We were just talking about you," Kent replied to her question. "Lady Lyn!" Serra exclaimed, "You're here!" "L-Lyn..." Rhea said quietly. "Rhea," Lyn said while smiling, "You look more like a lady. I hope you've also gotten stronger." Rhea smiled back and nodded. "I couldn't agree more Lady Lyn!" Sain said, "Even more beautiful over the passing of months! Much like you!" "Sain, you're awful!" Wil joked.

Lyn sighed and decided to ignore Sain's remarks. "So, I heard what was going on." Lyn started. "Uh huh! We're all gonna help Rhea help that kid!" Serra explained. "He has a name Serra," Erk said. "Really? What IS your name, lad?" Sain asked. Sora's eye twitched. Rhea has said his name so many times it wasn't funny and if they were going to note his name why did they ask him so many rude questions? "Noneya." "Noneya, huh? That's an interesting name," Sain said scratching his head, "Does it come from your country?" "That's not his name, Sain," Rhea said, "His name is Sora." "Sora? That's an odd name," Kent pointed out. _Is not._ Sora thought childishly back.

"Oh come on guys! It isn't so bad! It's not as great as 'Serra,' but it's decent for him!" Serra said.

Sora found himself wanting to strangle the closest thing to him which was in his case Serra. "In any case, everyone's coming along to help," Rhea said to Lyn. "It'll be like old times!" Serra exclaimed. "Stop repeating yourself," Erk said. "If that means another journey with such lovely butterflies, I want to go too!" Sain said. "No you're not, if you go I have to go too," Kent replied. "Kent you don't need to have so much responsibility for Sain," Lyn said.

"Yes I do. Look at him!"

"Oh Kent you're so mean! But in a way, you're really nice because that means you care about me!" Sain said happily. "Whatever." "So that means you have to come too Kent" Lyn decided. "Fine, fine."

"Lady Lyn! You're coming too?!!?" Serra asked excitedly. "Of course. I want to do everything I can." _Lyn's coming too..._Though she wasn't exactly showing it this thought made Rhea extremely happy.

"I wouldn't miss this for anything!" Wil said happily. "...I wanna help too..." Florina said quietly._ NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!_ was the only thing that came through Sora's mind. "Looks like it's settled then," Eliwood said. "Mmhmm! You've got yourself a wonderful team, Sora!" Serra winked which was replied by a death glare from him. "We should start packing then!" Serra said completely ignoring Sora's glares. "She has a point, we'll need weapons, vulneraries, food..." Rhea began. "Erk! Fetch the food!" Serra demanded. "No need, Lady Serra," Marcus said, "We'll take care of that." "Wonderful!"

"Packing will take forever with 500 people!" Sora exaggerated. "Don't underestimate us!" Serra protested, "We have to be ready for certain situations!" "She does have a point...for once..." Erk said. "Yeah, yeah, just hurry up ok? My friends could be dead by now!" Sora protested back while running out the door. "Sora!" Rhea ran after him. "Geez he's so impatient Erk!" Serra complained. "Much like someone else we all know," Erk said quietly. The rest couldn't help but to silently agree.

"What?!?" Sora snapped while outside. "I just wanted to look for my friends, not bring the klepto club with me!" "Well, I wasn't exactly expecting them to come either, but still, it would be a lot safer with them along..." Rhea said. "All 20 of them!?" Sora exaggerated, "When I traveled all I had was 2 party members! It was better that way!"

"Be that as it may, they are all very talented fighters."

"Whatever," Sora mumbled, "They're aren't even coming along for the right reasons they're just coming 'BECAUSE IT WILL BE AN ADVENTURE!'" he mocked the annoying voice of the pink haired girl.

"Look, I know they seem carefree at the moment, and in some cases loud...AND ANNOYING-seriously, I know this from experience-but still, they mean well, and they are here to help."

Sora stayed silent for a while then replied with "Ok..."

"Besides, you think this is a lot? You should've been with us a few months back when they were over 50 of us!"

"Ok, ok I get your point!"

"Wonderful."

"We're ready!"

The two turned around as the whole group came up with all equipment ready. "Sora do you need a weapon?" Kent asked. "No, I have mines," Sora replied. "Huh? Where is it? It's so small I can barely see it!" Rhea joked remembering a remark from earlier. "Silly, you're not supposed to. As it's actually bigger than that pea size dagger you've got!" Sora said smiling proudly. Rhea crossed her arms. "Reeeeally?"

"Then where is it?" Serra asked. "Noneya." "Noneya again? What kind of weird country is this?!?" Sain said. "It's not a country it means..." Sora started, "NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!" "Sora..."Rhea said with her arms still crossed. "I don't ask to see you guys' weapons!" "They're not exactly hard to miss," Hector said pointing to his giant axe. "Yeah well! You guys are just nosy!" Sora said while sticking out his tongue. "Nosy?" Lyn repeated. Serra gasped. "The nerve! We're not nosy! Right Erk?" "Well, the rest of us aren't anyway," Erk muttered.

"Sora, we just want to confirm you have a weapon," Kent reasoned. "I must have 'idiot' on my forehead or something. Why would I travel without any weapon?!" "Well we definitely don't SEE one!" Serra said with a smug look on her face. "Only people with brains can see it!" Sora said mocking Serra's intelligence. Serra stamped her foot. "How DARE you! Erk, did you just hear what he said about you?!?" "Ugh," was the only response Erk gave. "Alright, enough! If Sora has a weapon, then he has a weapon, wherever it is," Rhea said, growing wary of the bickering.

Everybody wasn't convinced and still wanted to go further but they realized Sora wasn't going to show them his weapon as snobby as it seemed. "Alright. Where shall we head off to first?" Lyn asked. "Well, maybe since Sora is here, his friends are nearby, so let's try the same route we used before." "Alright, let's head out everyone!" Serra exclaimed. "That isn't your job to say," Erk pointed out. With that said they headed off.

* * *

Kchan: Mmmk thanks for reading!  
Naomi: R&R.  
Kchan: Yes please rate and review! And stay tuned for Chapter 5! Yeah!XD  
Naomi: ...Bye. 


	6. Ch 5: Fateful Reunion

Kchan: Hey all! And welcome to chapter 5!  
Naomi: Wooo  
Kchan: Summer may be over now, but here the adventures are just about to begin!  
Naomi: Let's get started then...Disclaimer.  
Kchan: We DONOT own Fire Emblem OR Kingdom Hearts.

* * *

_Chapter 5_

_Fateful Reunion_

Rhea woke up the next day to find her face in a book, literally. _I fell asleep while writing again..._she thought was rubbing her cheek, which had and imprint of her journal on it. She turned around to her bed to see Sora happily snoring on it. _...He's still...in here... _Sora started muttering in his sleep reflecting his dreams.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and a voice known as Serra's came from the outside. "Rheeeeeeaaaaa! It's time to wake up! You're usually up already, did you stay up real late last night!?!" Rhea looked at the door, and then at Sora, then at the door again, then back again. _...This could be bad..._she thought. Sora muttered a groan hearing Serra's voice in his sleep.

"Hmm? What was that sound?" Serra started trying to turn the doorknob. "Serra, it's locked," came Erk's voice, "And just let Rhea rest. She deserves it after all." "Boooo, ok you're right. WAKE UP SOOOOOON!" And with that their voices couldn't be heard anymore. Rhea sighed in relief. With the last reply of Serra is what caused Sora to fall over the bed. "OOOOOWWWWWWWWW!"

"Good morning," Rhea said plainly, "Have a nice sleep?" "Noooo," Sora whined. "I had a nightmare!" he said while jumping on the fluffy bed again.

"That's veeery unfortunate, but you need to get out of my room. NOW."

"Huuuh? But you were so nice to me last night! It's like you changed back to your evil ways!" Sora laughed while jumping out of the bed, "What's that book on the desk? Your diary?"

"D-Don't touch it!" Rhea said grabbing it. "Geez like I want to know about your girly secrets anyways. You're just like Kairi. I can't wait for you to meet her!"

"Nevertheless, you still need to leave before someone finds out that you're here."

"Why? It's not were dating or anything," Sora pointed out.

"..." Rhea went to the door and opened it, "OUT." "GOOD MORNING!!!" Serra appeared in front of her. "S-Serra?!? You're still here?!?" "Yeah, but... what's HE doing in here?" Serra asked. "A fine question indeed," Erk commented.

"I just came here. Noisy people aren't allowed in," Sora said insulting Serra's loudness in the morning while walking out. "Ooooh, just came huh?" Serra said with a wide smile on her face. "Serra, it's just as he says," Rhea said. "Mmhmm, I beliiiieve you!" "Stop being annoying," Sora said still not too far away from the door.

"Erk! He just KEEPS insulting you! Are you gonna just stand by and allow it!?!"

Erk sighed.

"Anyway, are the others downstairs already?" Rhea asked. "Uh huh! They're all downstairs eating breakfast and getting ready to go!" "EATING BREAKFAST!?" Sora yelled, "NOOOOO!" he yelled again while running faster. "That kid really likes to eat huh?" Serra asked. "So it would seem," Rhea replied.

Sora ran down to where everybody was eating. "NO! What about me? Florinnnnnna! I'm hungry too!" Florina shyly hid behind Lyn. "Um...?" Lyn looked at Florina. "It's alright Florina. It's just Sora..." "Sorry if I scared you!" Sora tried apologizing, for what…he didn't know... "O-oh no, I'm sorry!" Florina said quietly. "Ah Florina, always as shy as ever!" Sain said. "Florina kinda doesn't like guys too much," Wil explained to Sora. "I-I'm sorry..." Sora then understood and smiled his trademark smile, "Don't apologize! I understand, I won't bother you anymore I promise!"

"It's not that she hates guys, it's that she's afraid of them, and you're pretty much a strange guy to her!" Serra said walking up with Erk and Rhea. Sora's eyes twitched. "Nobody asked you Serra..." he muttered audibly. "I brought Rhea everyone!" Serra said ignoring him. "Must you make everything an announcement?" Rhea asked. "It makes everything more fun!" "Geez Rhea, you're usually the first one up out of all of us!" Matthew said. "I bet she's been writing in her little diary late at night again!" Hector teased. Rhea turned her head away. "You still carry that around?" Serra asked. "I-I have to! My master wants me to keep record of everything I do!" she explained, "You should know that by now!" "It's good you still cherish his word Rhea," Kent said bluntly.

Rhea sighed. "It's not like I have a choice..." "What do you mean?" Sora asked while helping himself to some of Matthew's food. "All he does is tell me to do stuff! He just gives me a book and kicks me out of the house! 'Go explore the world and write down everything you see or do in this little book!' Old fool..." Rhea ranted. "She gets like that when her master is mentioned sometimes," Wil whispered to Sora. Sora nodded understanding. "I'm sure you'll complete the task!" "Thanks..."

"What shall we do after this Rhea?" Lyn asked. "I guess we should head on for the next town. Sooner or later we'll get a lead of some sort," Rhea suggested as Serra handed her breakfast. "Great! C'mon everybody eat, eat! We gotta hurry!" Sora said jumping up and down waving around flags that distinctly said: "HURRY AND EAT!" And with that they all sat down and ate.

"Ugh, I HATE sleeping on the ground!" Riku complained as he woke up and stretched, "and the smell of pine in the morning isn't helping!" "I guess it's better than being in a hostile area," Kairi said remembering the odd girl.

"I guess you're right..."

"Well looks like we have some choices. We can search around for Sora in this area and get some food or we can get some snacks and head out..."

"Yay, rabbits for breakfast!" Riku joked. "We're not going to eat rabbits! Maybe they have pastries here..." Kairi said.

"A nice pie WOULD be good right about now..."

"Yeah I'm sure they have that," Kairi agreed while getting up and dusting herself off. "They'd better," Riku said getting up as well.

Kairi just smiled as she went with Riku into the closest bakery.

This new town was just as active as the last one, but hopefully there were less heartless around.

"It's so noisy," Riku said putting his hand to his head, "How can they be so noisy in the morning?" He really wasn't a morning person. "If it wasn't I'd think there was something wrong," Kairi said as she watched a bunch of active kids come out of the bakery with some bread.

"At least the bakery has bread, but what bakery doesn't?"

"I'm hoping for some cake. Or anything sweet!" Kairi groaned as she walked inside with Riku. "Anything edible would be fine for me," Riku replied.

The two looked around the bakery at the all the different breads, fresh cakes and other desserts. "They...they actually have pie Kairi! THEY HAVE PIE!" Riku exclaimed, not caring about the looks he was getting from other customers. "Um yes Riku... let's calm down and see how much they cost," she said hoping the people would get a clue and stop staring.

"Let's see...this little paper here says the pie is 500 gold..."

"How much do we have?"

Riku checked his pockets only to find them completely empty. "That's right! I gave my 500 to that stupid peddler guy!" Kairi checked her pockets and dug out 150 munny. "This is all I have. Even if I did have my purse back at home it's not like this is currency here..." "Maybe we can just tell them it's some kinda rare gem or something-like we did last time," Riku said quietly so that no one else would hear their conversation.

Kairi nodded and went up to the cashier. "Excuse me, we'd like to buy that apple pie but we only have this on us," showing the munny when she said this. "And just what the heck is THAT?" the baker barked. "U-um we found it while traveling! A merchant near here told us it was a cross between gold and a diamond and told us one small one is at least worth 500 gold!" "Really now?" the baker took the little sphere and examined it. "It does, look rather valuable..." "Most would be lucky to even HAVE one of those! So says the merchant," Riku chimed in. "Well, if you say so, I'll accept it just this once, but next time, bring some gold!" the baker said. "Of course!" Kairi said hoping next time someone would be willing to trade gold for munny.

"I can't believe it! They actually have real food in the place!" Riku said as they left the bakery. "But that's the bakery. No telling what else they have," Kairi mused as she held the pie box. "Probably nothing but rabbits and deer. And probably gruel," Riku joked. "Ew..." Kairi said not wanting to think about that, "You're just trying to make me ruin my appetite so you can get most of the pie!"

Riku laughed. "Maybe." "That's so evil of you! Let's just say we're lucky we're not with Sora or he'd want half of the pie…I really do hope he's ok though..." Kairi said going from teasing to worrying.

"Hopefully that kid's found some help by now," Riku said. "If Sora heard you say that he'd be upset. You make him seem like a child!" Kairi laughed. "Well he acts like one most of the time!" "I know..." Kairi said happily like a lovesick child.

"??? Hey Kairi, if you stare off into space like that for too long, your pie's gonna get cold, and I'm gonna take it," Riku said. "Oh! Heh heh, sorry," she said while taking a bite out of her current piece, "We should stay a while and look for Sora!" "Yeah you're right, hopefully he's not too far," Riku said jamming the rest of his slice into his mouth. "Even if he is we can't leave until we find him!" Kairi said determined, in a Sora like manner. "Right, he might come here, eventually, if he's not here already." "That's true...Then we have to hurry! C'mon eat Riku!" Kairi said rushing him. She would look everywhere for Sora.

"Are we there yet?" "For the last time, we'll get there by nightfall," Rhea said patiently, for she was used to this sort of impatience from her previous travels. They had only been traveling for a few minutes and already some were starting to lose heart. "Man, my feet hurt! Erk! Carry me!" Serra complained. "I'd rather not," Erk replied. "Well when's nightfall?" Sora asked. Rhea looked up at the sky. "Judging by the sun's position, a long time from now," she said. "Well then let's walk faster!" he said now speed walking.

"C'mon Erk! Carry me!" Serra demanded.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I am NOT your slave."

"But you used to be..."

"I was NEVER your slave. You only paid me to get you to Ostia safely."

"...Isn't that the same thing?" "C'MON PEOPLE!" Sora who was a bit too far from them yelled. Kent found this very mediocre. "Rhea this trip..." he began. "I know, very different from our past trips, right?" "WHY ISN'T ANYBODY HURRYING!?" Sora yelled once again. "Yes..." Kent said while sighing. It was as if she took the words out of his mouth.

While walking the long hours the talkative people kept talking the walking people kept walking and the spikey weirdo kept being weird. But it made time pass by. "Hey Sora? You wanna carry me then?" Serra asked after finally giving up on asking Erk. "Instead of talking you should be walking if you're so tired!" Sora nagged, "C'MON YOU GUYS!" He continued yelling at the group, which was more than 24 feet away from him.

When it seemed like all hope was lost he saw salvation- or really just the town they were looking for. "Finally, I didn't think I could take any more of this," Rhea said. "Well he certainly is a lively one, isn't he?" Eliwood said cheerfully. "A little too lively. It's a shame he and Serra don't get along, they'd make the perfect pair." _For annoying the heck outta me_ she thought. "But...maybe on the other hand, that's probably a good thing." "YAY, YAY! SALVATION! HERE I COME! KAIRI, RIKU!!" Sora yelled happily while running inside. "Somehow I don't think he heard any of that..." Lyn stated. "I guess that's a good thing then," Rhea said smiling.

All of them made their way inside the town. "Geez you guys! Traveling with you is like traveling with cows! I mean we could have been here earlier!" "Well maybe if SOMEONE had carried me we would've gotten here faster!" Serra said. Erk merely ignored the comment. "Well, at least we made it alright without any trouble...or...much trouble," Rhea said. "I'm going to start searching!" Sora declared. "I'm going too," Rhea said, "It would be no good if you got yourself lost...or into trouble." "No way! I'm not a kid, don't treat me like one!" "Alright, then Mr. Grownup," Rhea said, "Have it your way." "I'm hungry Erk, c'mon let's go find some food! And perhaps the inn!" Serra exclaimed immediately grabbing Erk and dragging him off in one direction. "I will!" Sora said proudly while walking off.

"Are you sure that was a good idea?" Kent asked. For some reason Sora always reminded him of Sain when they were children: nothing but trouble. "Of course it wasn't that's why I'm gonna keep an eye on him," Rhea explained. "Oh?" Lyn said suggestively. "I'll at least make sure he stays out of trouble anyway..." Lyn just smiled Kent on the other hand, "You wouldn't check up on anybody else, at least not like this before. Do you-" "I'm gonna go now before he gets too far away," Rhea said starting to walk. "…She likes him doesn't she?" Kent asked. "So it would seem," was Lyn's blunt reply.

"Geez, it's been HOURS already, I'm starting to think that Sora isn't here Kairi," Riku as he sat against a wall while Kairi paced back and forth. "We still haven't checked the lower area!" Kairi protested. "Lower area? What are you talking about? We checked everywhere!" "One more time! Please Riku?" Kairi begged like when they were children. Riku sighed. "Fine. No one could say no to a face as sad as that one." "Thank you Riku!" Kairi said while smiling. She still had it. "Riku?" a voice said in the bustling crowd of people walking.

Riku looked up. "That voice..." There Sora was, staring with his wide eyes at them, happy and even shocked. "Sora!" Kairi said happily. "I'm dreaming!" Sora said happily as he ran to Riku and pulled his hair. "Ow what the hell?!? That's supposed to be my job!" Riku said pushing Sora's hands away from his hair. "Just checking if you were real!" Sora said happily. Kairi couldn't help giggling.

"I was looking for you guys everywhere!"

"Same here. We were just about to start looking for you again-for the 5th time today!"

"I just got here. I had to travel with like 40 people!" Sora whined.

"What?!?! You got an army of these people behind you already?!?"

"Yeah but they're more like cattle. Want to meet them?"

"Of course!"

"More like cattle?" Riku repeated. "They were so slow and laggy as if they didn't even care that I was looking for you guys! And most of them only because they're annoying!" "Wow, can't wait to meet 'em," Riku said sarcastically. "I know but now that you guys are here I won't be lonely!" he said hugging them both. "Of course you won't!" "Yeah, yeah, just stop hugging, this is getting way too emotional," Riku said. Sora stuck out his tongue and hugged tighter before he let go. "C'mon their probably still back there!" he said while leading the way.

"Looks like somebody's finally come back," Hector pointed out as he saw someone approaching. "Oh it's Sora!" Wil said, "annnnnd? I think those are his friends!" "What?" Kent asked while facing the way of Sora and 2 other people almost in the same clad as Sora, "I thought he was just pretending he had friends here..." "Oh very funny!!! See guys? They're evil!" Sora pointed out.

"Why don't you introduce us Sora?" Lyn asked. "Oh this is Riku, he's really strong I guess and this is Kairi! She's a princess!" "You GUESS I'm really strong?" Riku asked crossing his arms. Sora ignored him. "These are Rhea's friends. Hey where's Rhea anyways?" "Oh she went sightseeing for a little bit!" Eliwood explained. "Oh fine," Sora mumbled, then got straight to introducing everyone on Rheas side.

"That's pretty sneaky trying to follow Sora like that!" Serra told Rhea as they walked back to the others. "Well I had to, otherwise he just would've gotten lost...but instead I lost him after finding you two," Rhea responded. "We're sorry! We'll leave you too alone next time!" Serra said grabbing but Rhea and Erk around the neck, "Right Erk?" "Leave me out of this," Erk said.

"Oh. Here comes Rhea...with Serra and Erk," Kent replied after Sora was done with the introductions. "I thought she was alone!" Sora pointed out himself. "I'm guessing Serra found her. She's good at things like that. That's why Erk can't escape," Matthew joked. "Rhea!" Sora yelled waving. Rhea slowly waved back. "Who are those two with him?" Serra asked. "Those would be the friends he was looking for," Erk answered.

They finally reached the others. "Sora, these are your friends?" Serra asked. "Yup this is Riku my best friend! And Kairi! She's a princess!" he said. "Hi, thank you for taking care of Sora I know he's a handful," she said while bowing. "Yo," Riku said. "Ah n-no he wasn't any trouble at all. It's nice to meet you too. I'm Rhea," Rhea said. "Yeah! He was a lot of fun to hang around! I'm Serra the greatest cleric in all Elibe, and this is Erk, my servant," Serra said introducing herself. "I am not her servant," Erk said. "Now that we found you guys we can go home!!" Sora said happily forgetting the issue of how. "Uh...Sora.." Kairi tried to explain. "Hm?" "Exactly HOW do you think we're gonna do that genius?" Riku asked, "We fell outta the freakin' sky!" "We have to find some kinda portal or something! That's how we got here! Right! Right?!" he said distressed.

"Calm down, there's sure to be a way for you to return to your world, we just need to find a lead somehow," Rhea said assuringly. "That will take forever and we can't stay here guys. THEY DON'T HAVE PLAYSTATIONS," Sora said as if that was the only thing that mattered. "What about your mom Sora?" Kairi said. "She's fine." "I think she meant...you know what? Never mind," Riku said.

Just then Rhea noticed Ninian staring at the sky looking somewhat frightened. "Hey Ninian, are you alright?" she asked. "Hm? Ninian? Is something the matter?" Eliwood said. "...I sense danger..." Ninian responded. "I see, everyone, be on your guard!" Eliwood ordered. "Danger? Again?" Kairi asked wondering if it was the same girl again. "Oh geez, don't let be her," Riku said. "Be who?" Sora asked.

All of a sudden, the sky grew very dark as several hundred black winged creatures flew over the town. "Hey look up there! Are those heartless?" Serra asked. "Yeah!" Sora replied, as they came from the sky. The people started noticing and started to panic. "This has to be the worst location!" Kairi deducted.

"Nooooooo! They're gonna swoop down and grab us up!" Serra screamed. "An aerial enemy...The only that'd really be against that is...Wil! Rebecca!" Rhea said. "We're on it!" Wil responded as he and Rebecca started to shoot arrows at the sky. "There's no way they have enough arrows to take them all down though..." Rhea said. "I-I'll help too! I can fly after all!" Florina said climbing aboard her pegasus, with lance in hand. "I doubt that will be enough though..."Kent pointed out. "I'll use my magic!" Sora declared.

"Erk you use your magic too!" Serra said. "I was planning on it anyway," Erk said with spell book in hand. "You can use your magic too right Riku?" Kairi asked. "Yeah totally! They don't stand a chance against me!" Riku said. "I beg to differ," came a voice. "What the? Who said that!?" Sora demanded. "Silly fool. Look behind you."

The group turned around and looked in shock as a gigantic horned heartless appeared behind them. On top of the heartless were two small girls. "Oh no..." Riku said. "It's the two girls! You person! You should get that small girl down before she falls!" Kairi scolded the eldest girl which was true considering the youngest was busy leaning over the side to catch a glimpse of the townspeople running. "If she falls, that's her fault!" Irene said. "Hey! Doesn't she look like..." Hector began. "Ebony hair, and her eyes are golden, just like a..." Rhea started.

"Girl, that's going down!" Sora said stubbornly as he ran towards the rhino heartless with his keyblade ready. "Sora!" Kairi yelled after him not sure what the woman had up her sleeve.

"You! You're a morph, aren't you?!?" Eliwood demanded. "Maybe, maybe not," Irene said playfully. "Answer me!"

"Aha! YOU must be Lord Eliwood."

"And if I am?"

"And YOU'RE Lord Hector!" Irene said pointing. "What of it?" Hector said. "Then that leaves Lady Lyndis..." "Why are you alive!?" Lyn demanded. "It's YOUR FAULTS THEN! It's YOUR FAULTS that Lord Nergal is dead! You killed him...all of you..." "This is impossible, we got rid of all the morphs..." Rhea said. "Well ya missed one! And now I'M gonna get revenge! I'm gonna destroy those who destroyed my Lord Nergal, and those who get in my way shall perish as well!" "No you wont!" Sora said finally reaching the heartless. "Thunder!" he said casting it on top of the heartless almost hitting Lucretia who in response death gripped Irene's arm.

"Now where did you get these heartless!?" Sora demanded. "Why do you care? And you let go of me!" "No," Lucretia said persistently. "Because! I have to get rid of them!" "Oh, you must be that kid Maleficent was talking about," Irene said.

"Maleficent!?!?" Riku repeated. "That's what I said is it not?" "She's behind this too?" Kairi asked. "You liar! She's gone!" Sora said in denial. "That's what you think. Thanks to her, I have ALL these dark servants, and in return she gives me quintessence so that I can revive Lord Nergal! Then this whole world will be turned to darkness!" Irene explained. Eliwood clenched his fists. "Your goals will never be accomplished!" he said. "It will be once I get rid of you!"

"Yeah well too bad you wont!" Sora said childishly while sticking out his tongue. "We'll see about that!" Irene said sticking her tongue out in return. "What the heck?..." Sora said shocked then returned the favor again. "Sora this is no time to act like you're in kindergarten," Kairi said. "Right!" Sora remembered then tried to reason one more time, "We'll let you go if you just tell us where Maleficent is!" "Why should I tell you? And I can leave anytime I want," Irene said smugly. "Thunder!" Sora yelled again this time casting it to the morph girl.

"Useless." With the wave of her hand the attack was sent into the sky where it knocked out a few of the flying heartless.

"I'm still not done!" Sora yelled as he swung his keyblade towards the heartless the morph was graced upon. "Hang on tight to me kid," Irene said to Lucretia. "Ok..." With that, Irene flipped off the heartless just as it was hit by the keyblade, causing it to disappear. "Hey!" Sora yelled. "Hmm, that thing had a lot of quintessence...I'll just be taking it then," Irene said. "Stop!" Eliwood demanded. "Quintessence? Where?" Sora asked as he looked around.

"Right here!" Irene said taking the heart just as it was about to disappear into the sky, "Thanks for supplying me with it! It'll be a real big help!" Sora felt rage come over him as he had just blindly help the enemy, " ..." "Stop it! You don't know what you're getting into! Maleficent will just use you!" Kairi said after seeing Sora who was currently trying to tend a broken ego. "You're just saying that because you don't have control over infinite creatures of darkness!" "You little brat! She's telling the truth!" Riku said. "Yeah right! As if I'm gonna believe you!" "You should, he knows!" Kairi defended. "I don't have to believe ANY of you! I got what I want, so I'm leaving now!"

"No don't!"

"Bye bye!" And with that the two girls disappeared in a swirl of darkness.

They had been transported into the forest. "Was that right?" Lucretia asked.

"Was what right?"

"What you did..."

"You mean serving my own needs?"

"While taking others..."

"As long as I bring Lord Nergal back, I'm happy, besides it's THEIR fault he's gone so they had it coming. And if I get rid of the ones Maleficent talked about she'll keep supplying me with the heartless then help me open the Dragons Gate."

"Why is he important to you?" Lucretia asked in her whisper monotone. "Because he gave me life! If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be here!" "But it's easy for someone not wishing to be born..."

"Hey just because you asked for my life story doesn't mean I wanna hear yours."

"But I never told mines..."

"And I thank you for that."

"You're welcome..."

"Good let's be going then, who knows how long it'll take to get my energy back..." _I hate being so weak; just TELEPORTING makes me wanna faint..._Irene thought. "There's always rest..." Lucretia suggested. "I have no need for rest! Every second or so, those idiots are getting closer to the Dragons Gate...Unless they haven't figured it out yet," Irene smiled wickedly.

"They always can..."

"Well that's why I'll make sure they never reach it!"

"..." Lucretia didn't say anything because she partially understood how Irene's mind worked. She wouldn't listen to anything she didn't want to hear. But in truth she felt as if that was wrong and selfish. "The sky is dull today..." Lucretia said quietly. "Stop looking at the sky and let's go Lillian." "Lucretia..." she said while thinking about what her last name was again.

"I can't believe one morph still exists. How could this happen?!?" Eliwood said as he paced back and forth in front of the others. After the heartless disappeared, everything calmed down, but there was still an aura of confusion, anger, and fear among the group. "Eliwood, you need to calm down," Hector said.

"But she's plotting on bringing Lord Nergal back! If that happens-"

"It'll be the end of all of us, yes we know."

"I wonder where this one was hiding all that time..." Lyn mused. She had never seen her before and apparently neither did the rest. "That doesn't matter! What matters is that we have to stop her!" Eliwood said. "But how? We don't even know where she is!" Hector said. "All we know is that she wants Nergal back," Lyn stated. "And apparently she's receiving help from someone named 'Maleficent'," Eliwood added. "And then those kids seem to know her," Hector added. Lyn looked over to the "kids" Hector was referring to who were currently a bit away from the group comforting Sora who seemed upset. "Should we ask them?" Lyn said. "I suppose we should, I mean Eliwood's already heading over there," Hector said.

Kairi along with Riku was trying to cheer the mentally wounded Sora from embarrassment. "It's ok

Sora! Riku would have done the same! Right Riku?" "Pffff if it were me, that brat'd be dead already," Riku bragged. "Whatever Riku!" Sora protested obviously not feeling better.

"Sora..." Kairi said sympathetically until she saw the 3 lords come to them. "What's wrong?" she asked. "Well, we would like to ask..."Eliwood began. "Tell us everything you know about that person that morph was talking about," Hector ordered.

Sora just stared at Hector then turned his head. "Maybe I don't want to..." "But we really need to know, that way perhaps we could defeat that person and the morph," Eliwood said. "Good luck with that," Riku said. "You guys!" Kairi protested. "Please. If we don't do something now it may be too late for all of us" Lyn reasoned but as usual neither Sora nor Riku budged. "We're fine. She's delusional Maleficent is gone. Alright? So stop asking," Sora scolded. "Apparently that isn't the case," Hector said. "Yes it is!" Sora childishly snapped back. He was in complete denial that she was alive...AGAIN. "Very well, we'll ask again at a better time," Eliwood said. "But!" Hector protested. "Peace Hector, let's go." "Bah..." And with that, the lords departed.

"Sora, Riku! What if they tell the rest?" Kairi asked. "So what? What are they going to do? Jump me in my sleep?" Sora said laughing at that. "That big blue one might," Riku joked.

Kairi stared at both of them in ridicule but decided it was best to let them feel like talking instead of forcing them. "We're all fine," Sora assured. "I could take him out anyway," Riku bragged. "Yeah right," Sora started, "You can't even kick my butt!"

"Uh, yeah WHO got 4 to zip again?"

"Aw that was a long time ago!!!" Sora yelled loud enough for people around to hear. "Ah whatever man! You wanna go now, huh? Wanna fight?" Riku said with a mild smirk on his face. "Yeah! You're on!" Sora said hyped up. "You guys! If you fight everyone will think we're crazy! If you're going to see who's better, just do some competition, anything but fighting!" Kairi scolded. "Yeah you're right, they probably already think Sora's crazy. And what kind of competition? You want us to go jousting?"

"Crazy!?" Sora said offended. "How about a simple one without weapons, " Kairi suggested. "Maybe we should ask one of them what kind of 'competitions' they have. What about that chick who helped you Sora?" "... Rhea? Yeah ok..." Sora decided he wanted to talk to Rhea. To thank her.

Rhea sat away from the group, writing in her journal. Eventually, she would be summoned by the lordlings to decide the next plan of action, so she figured while they discussed the mystery of the morph and the person who supposedly helps her, she'd just relax. "Rhea!!!" Sora's loud voice yelled breaking her peaceful aura. She looked up from her journal to see him waving at her frantically. "Oh! Sora...hi..." she said closing her journal.

Kairi and Riku soon came next to Sora in turn. "I wanted to thank you," Sora said smiling brightly. "Oh really? D-don't worry about it. Helping others is just...the right thing to do, right?" "Yeah!" Sora agreed, "Do you know any competitions?" "Competitions?" Rhea asked. "Yeah, I wanna prove to this guy here that I'm better than him and Kairi here doesn't want any 'violence'," Riku explained.

"I don't want them to get in any serious trouble," Kairi explained in turn. "I'm cooler!" Sora said in his somewhat flat explanation.

"Well, when most are trying to settle something they spar-"

"Let's spar then! You and me Sora!"

"BUT. That includes using weapons..."

"Rats."

"So, the only thing I could really think of is...either card games or...a race..." "Ok...GO!" Sora said while running ahead. "Hey that's cheating!" Riku yelled chasing after him. Kairi just sighed at the scene before her. "Riku is as childish as Sora..."

The rest of the group looked from the two boys zipping past them to the two girls, all giving them the "What is THAT all about?" look.  
Rhea sighed as well. "I hope they know where they're going..." "They don't..." Kairi assured.

While the two boys were running the lordlings were watching. "Where are they headed?" Lyn wondered, "They can't be possibly trying to run away..." "It's getting pretty dark too," Eliwood pointed out. "Ah, they're big boys they'll be fine," Hector assured. "You don't sound worried at all..." "I agree with Eliwood on that," Lyn said annoyed. Hector merely laughed his loud, booming laugh. "I'm hungry let's go find some food." "Honestly!" Lyn said somewhat upset that food was the only thing on Hector's mind.

"I'm winning Riku!" Sora yelled running in the open space past the town. "In your wildest dreams shorty!" Riku said dashing past him. "Noooooooooo!" Sora yelled while he ran to catch up, before he knew it he was chasing Riku into the forest. "Hey slowpoke!! Exactly when and where are we supposed to stop?!?"

"Until I beat you!"

"I guess we'll be running a while then!"

"Shut up!" Sora snapped while running faster. "You know it's the truth!" "Is not! Shortcut!" Sora said while running to the side out of sight.

"What the hell you little cheater?!?!" Riku yelled taking a u-turn and trying to follow him. Eventually he could no longer hear Sora's loud footsteps or see his spikey head. "Now where the hell did he get to?" Riku asked himself as he wandered the woods aimlessly. "That way..." a monotone voice said.

"What? Who said that?!?" Riku said.

He looked frantically around the woods until he caught sight of the same blue-haired girl from earlier, "You!!" "Not me," she said while shaking her head lightly, "Him." She pointed at Sora who was unconsciously on the ground. "WHAT THE-!??! Sora!" Riku ran over to him, "What did your crony do to him?!?" "He..." Lucretia started.

"Ha! Now look who's ahead!" Sora yelled in lightning speed. Everything was so blurry he couldn't focus until he saw a blur of light blue he zipped right past making him look back. "That was-OMPH!" Sora yelled as he crashed into a tree and fell to the ground with a loud thud. "Now where the hell did he get to?"

"Did that..." Lucretia said quietly finishing her explanation. Riku twitched. "...Idiot. And you! What are you doing here, and where's your little friend?" "She's resting, I'm hungry..." Lucretia said simply as she headed towards the mushrooms nearby. "W-what are you doing?" "Eating," she said reaching for the mushroom. "Hey whoa, whoa, whoa! Don't eat those you crazy kid!" "But..." she said looking at the mushroom.

Riku walked up to her. "Do you see what color that is?" "White." "Well where we come from white mushrooms shoot out poison spores and kill you. ""..." Lucretia then directed her attention to a leaf that fell. "Leaves aren't food either." "..." "Do you not know what food IS or something?" "I..." Lucretia started trying to find the right words to come out of her mouth however, she was starting to get confused. Anything's food right? Anything to survive right?

She was so confused the words just come out her mouth, "Food is!...food…" "...Wow, you're exactly like that one lying on the ground over there," Riku said pointing behind him. Lucretia looked over at the corpse on the floor. "I know...I'm sorry..." Riku sighed. "It's not your fault...I think..."

That was the first time Lucretia heard those words so she really didn't know how to reply to them. With that she walked over to Sora. "Would you like him awake?" "Um, yeah that would be great," Riku responded to the not so normal question. "..." Lucretia took a moment to register Sora's face then playfully poked his swollen forehead, which got an unconscious cringe in response. _Nope he's unconscious._

Lucretia then poked his stomach, which earned a giggle. "Bye..." she said to Riku and she walked away in a rush. "Ughh.." Sora groaned finally waking up._ What was that all about...?_ Riku thought. He then brought his attention to Sora. "Have a nice nap, Sleeping Beauty?" he asked. Sora looked around for the girl but she must have left then he thought about the race. "I won!- Wait you think I'm pretty?" Riku nudged him with his foot, "Get up." Sora whined, "My head hurts! And you don't even care! I know! I'll go to Kairi!" Sora said in resolve as he got up. "What?!? You are NOT getting her mad at me for something I didn't do!" "But you ARE doing something! You're being mean ta mee!" Sora said childishly then switched to serious, "You're supposed to be my best friend, not those demented people."

"Demented people? You call those weird people demented?" "Yes! They tortured me with weird and rude questions at dinnertime, and conversation time! And sleep time!" "Even the quiet chick?" "Who? Oh the one with the purple hair! Um she won't even talk to me she's afraid of men" Sora explained forgetting what the real problem was. "Not her! The one who's always writing in that book!" "Oh Rhea?" Sora asked then dated back to the time they met, "She's a good person..." "I see...so then it's just the loud pink-haired girl to worry about?" "And the loud blue haired oaf too!" Sora pointed out referring to Hector. "I see, I'll take note of that then."

"Since I won you'll have to give your dessert to me!"

"What?!? You didn't win! You hit a tree!"

"That tree was the goal line! Riku's dessert for me!"

Riku sighed. "Any old excuse to win..." "Yeah, yeah! Better cough up your dessert at dinner time!" Sora said while running ahead. "Not if I eat it first!" Riku said dashing after him.

Lucretia walked to her partner who was resting under a tree. Or at least she was until Lucretia decided to pinch her cheek. "AH! Wha-?!? WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!?!" Irene yelled pushing Lucretia's hands away. "We should go," Lucretia decided. "What? I'M to decide whether we leave or not...let's go," Irene said standing up and dusting herself off. "Let's walk slow," Lucretia decided to test Irene's brain capacity for entertainment. "Why the hell should we do that? We need to get back to collecting quintessence as soon as possible!" "You'll hurt yourself..." Lucretia simply replied. "I'm fine!" Irene said stubbornly.

"You're like...him," Lucretia compared Irene to Sora.

"I'm like who?!?"

"Him."

"And WHO, might I ask, is HIM?"

"He is who he is."

"Argh! Stop trying to confuse me with your weird logic and let's go!" "Alright." "And what were you DOING while I was asleep?" "Looking for food," Lucretia replied bluntly wondering why Irene was so worked up about it. "Ugh, all you humans do is eat, eat eat, we've wasted enough time, let's go." "I didn't eat anything..." "Oh well, that's a shame. Just grab a piece of bark or a squirrel or something."

Lucretia was about to do that until she remembered Riku's word. "That's not food…" "Oh, you finally realize that?" Lucretia was somewhat angry she had been played and insulted but she decided to compromise. "We should get food in the next town." "Yeah, um, why?" "I need to eat. Like you need to find Nergal." "I don't need to FIND him, I need to bring him back," Irene corrected. Lucretia ignored the comment and started walking ahead in a slow pace. Irene rolled her eyes and walked ahead of her in a quick pace. "Be careful...you'll-" "I'll WHAT? AHHH!" Lucretia sighed as her teammate turned her head to get an answer only resulting in tripping over a huge rock. "Are you...alive?" Irene quickly got up and dusted herself off again. "Stupid rock!" She then kicked the rock only to later be in agonizing pain. "..."

"Kairi, Kairi! I won! What do I get?" Sora asked remembering the old days where if he won, which he admitted wasn't often, Kairi would always give him something. "You get nothing! Because you cheated and hit a tree!" Riku answered with his arms crossed. "But!" "No buts dude. You cheated, and therefore hit your face on a tree. So basically you got what you deserved," Riku said sticking out his tongue. "Kairi!" Sora said bringing attention on her. "Oh well...let's call it a tie! Since there was no goal," she reasoned.

"A tie!?"

"C'mon! Please? I'll bake you guys some cookies!"

"How exactly are you gonna do that here?" Riku asked. "I'll just ask. If I can't do it today I'll try next time!" she explained happily.

"I want strawberry filled!"

"...Chocolate chip." "Alright! Cookies for my best friends!" Kairi said happily as she walked over to Rhea to ask questions. "She meant me by the way." "If you say so kid...but she's still making chocolate chip."

Sora smiled happily at the fact that he was surrounded by his friends again. "Hey Riku. Tag!" Sora said pushing Riku and running towards the rest. "Sora if you hit a tree again, I'm seriously gonna laugh!" Riku said chasing him.

"Rhea! I was wondering if I could ask some questions..." Kairi said while walking towards her not noticing Riku and Sora running in the background. Rhea looked up from her journal once again. "Ok, sure," she answered closing it. "I was wondering if there was any way I could cook." "Cook?...Well, usually we carry a pot around-I believe it's over in Merlinus' carriage-but other than that..." "Great! So. Where's Merlinus?" Rhea looked around for where Eliwood was until she spotted him. "That's weird, he's usually following Lord Eliwood...he must be in his carriage or going around selling things then," Rhea answered. "It's alright. I'll wait."

"Ha, ha can't tag me!" Sora said cheerfully as people looked at him and Riku as they ran by. "Sora, get back here! This is seriously getting annoying!" Riku yelled. Sora then got an idea. He stopped allowing Riku to run right past him. "What the-? Dammit you gotta stop cheating like that!"

Suddenly, Riku stopped dead in his tracks. "No...way..." "No way?" Sora asked while walking over to Riku.

Riku stared in shock as a short man with a ponytail exited the carriage outside the town. "That can't be..." "You know him?" "It's that stupid peddler who sold us the map Kairi has..." _If we walk away slowly, maybe we won't notice us..._Riku thought as he started to slowly inch walk backwards. "RIKU! Watch where you're going you just bumped into me!" Sora complained. "Wha-AHHH!" The two boys tumbled over catching Merlinus's attention. "Is everything alright over there?"

"Huh?" Sora looked up to see the man Riku was talking about. "Oh! You're that boy everyone's talking about. Sora..." he then brought his attention to Riku who had his head down, "And you...have we met before?" "Uhhh, no don't think so," Riku answered. "Why yes we have! At the town back in Pherae! Remember? I sold you the map and you and your little friend gave me those remarkable pieces of...whatever it was you called them!" "..."

"You guys gave away your munny?"

"We needed a map, ok?!?"

"I would have never thought that YOU and your little friend were the friends that Sora here was looking for!"

Sora smiled. "We're really close. No seriously Riku get off."

"Oh right." Riku got up and dusted himself off. Sora got up and scratched his head. "So you already know me...but nice to meet you!" he said to Merlinus.

"Well it's nice to meet you again! And you're...who again?"

"Ansem."

"Ansem? Didn't he just call you..."

"That's his nickname for me."

"Ansem? Ansem!?!" Sora yelled angrily making people stare at them, again.

"Sora stop being weird."

Merlinus blinked. "Well it's very nice to meet you. Sora, Ansem..." And with that he walked off.

Sora waited until Merlinus was out of sight. "How can you lie and use that name!?" "I don't want him to know my name," Riku said coolly, "He creeps me out."

"But that means!"

"Means what?"

"Never mind. You can be just awful sometimes Riku."

Riku wrapped his arm around Sora's neck and gave him a noogie. "I know." "Oooowwww! No! Truce, truce!" Sora yelled wailing around earning him more curious stares.

"Oh! Is that him?" Kairi asked as she saw a man going towards the lordlings. "Yeah, that's him," Rhea responded. "Kairi, Rhea!" Sora said running towards them with Riku. "We saw this weirdo-"

"You mean that one over there?" Rhea asked pointing towards Merlinus. "Whoa! Look Riku!"

"Heh," Riku responded. "Is he traveling with us?" Sora asked hoping in his mind he was wrong.

"He's been traveling with us since yesterday remember? We met him in the other town, he kept following Lord Eliwood even then..." Rhea said. "I...never noticed" Sora admitted as he brain went blank in shock.

"Don't worry about it. He can hold weapons and items for you, but other I'd stay away from him," Rhea advised. "Why?" Kairi dared ask. "Well...for one, he talks...a lot. I believe Sir Marcus knows that better than anyone. And he tends to charge a bit much for his services," Rhea explained. "Wow. He IS weird." "Ehhhhh, just a tad." "But it shouldn't be too hard getting the cooking supplies from him right?" Kairi asked. "If you really want them I could ask for you." "Please?" Rhea smiled. "No problem."

"So we really get cookies!?" Sora said shocked. "Hopefully," Riku responded.

Rhea walked over to the lords and the merchant. "Ah! Look it's Rhea!" Hector said walking up to her then whispering, "Get rid of him kid." "I'll do my best," Rhea whispered back.

"Ah, Sir Merlinus?"

Merlinus turned his head to her. "Oh! Lady Rhea! I was just chatting with Lord Eliwood, Lord Hector and Lady Lyn!" Merlinus said cheerfully. Rhea looked over at Eliwood and Lyn who both had looks on their faces that clearly read,"Help us!" "Did you need something?" Lyn said in code, which meant, "Please hurry! Take him away!" "Ah yes! I was wondering if I could borrow the cooking tools?" Rhea asked. "The cooking tools? Whatever would you need with those?" "Uh...I need them to cook..." "You cook now too Rhea?" Hector asked shocked. Rhea sighed, "Anyway, is it alright if I use them for awhile?" "Well I suppose that would be alright, you're a pretty trustworthy person, just make sure no one does anything to them or I'll have their head! Well come along now." Merlinus led the way to his carriage. As Rhea followed, she turned back to the lords, smiled sweetly and quietly said, "You're welcome."

Lyn watched as Rhea went with Merlinus. "I wonder why she's taken up cooking but then again it's probably an excuse," she deducted. "Who cares? As long as he's gone," Hector said. "Perhaps, it would be best to um, continue our conversation elsewhere? Y'know..." Eliwood started. "In case he comes back? Good thinking." "Yes lets."

"So...what exactly are you cooking? Y'know dinner was served hours ago!" Merlinus asked curiously. "Um...I want to...bake cookies?" Rhea said hesitantly. "Ah, really? Who are they for?" _So nosy..._Rhea thought. "Ah, well...if they're a success, the whole group!" Rhea said. "Really? Well then, I can't wait to try them!...I think, anyway here you are." Merlinus handed her the cooking materials. "Thank you very much, Sir Merlinus!" Rhea said running off. "My pleasure!...Now, to go finish our wonderful conversation..." Merlinus said happily to himself.

"Hey that was fast," Sora said as Rhea ran up to them with the materials in her hands. "Yeah, I managed to leave before he started talking again. Anyway here you go." "Thank you," Kairi said while smiling. "It was no trouble," Rhea said smiling in return. "Are you going to eat cookies too?" Sora asked.

"Ah, I guess? If that's alright..."

"It's only fair. What's your favorite?"

"Say chocolate chip," Riku whispered to her. "No! Say strawberry filling!" Sora whispered back. Unknown to them Kairi heard. "Well, I actually like sugar cookies..." Rhea said quietly. "Me too," Kairi said as she walked off with the supplies. "Make lots of strawberry filling!" Sora yelled after. "NO! Chocolate chips!" Riku yelled. "Chocolate chip sucks!" "So does strawberry filling!" Kairi couldn't help but to sigh. Those two just never grow up.

"You're so immature Sora! Chocolate chips are the best!"

"No! Chocolate chip is so kiddy! And children would say they like that!"

"Why are we fighting over something like cookies?" Rhea interrupted.

The boys stopped fighting and stared at Rhea. "You're both acting like small children," she said.

"No I'm not." "Are not," Riku said crossing his arms. Rhea sighed. _Just like children..._ she thought.

"Rhea you just don't know how to have fun!" Sora said in a concluding manner. "Yeah you're kinda boring," Riku admitted.

"B-boring!?!"

Rhea was used to Serra and everyone else calling her that, but now these people from another world? "You're not? So what do you do for fun then?" Sora asked hoping for some new ideas. "You just write in that book of yours right?" Riku asked. _For the most part... bingo..._

"Well, I'm always traveling so..."

"What would you do if you weren't traveling?"

"I guess I'd still be at home with master I guess..." she answered.

That reminded Sora of something. "Oh yeah! Mom! I wonder if she notices I'm gone..." Sora mused.

"Oh yeah! We've been gone for a while. Maybe they set up a search party," Riku said. "Um well," Sora started nervously, "I told Mom I was staying over your house the day we disappeared." "Oh great, so now it's my responsibility to take care of you," Riku teased.

Sora frowned at that comment. "I can take care of myself Riku!" "Yeah, yeah we've all heard that one before," Riku said. "Yes you have! And I've proven it! I haven't gotten in any trouble at all!"

"Oh really? No trouble you say?" "Yup," Sora said knowing there wasn't anything Riku could use against him. Riku brought his attention to Rhea. "So he hasn't pulled any pranks, or name-called anyone, anything that would make someone wanna hurt him?" Rhea shook her head.

Sora eyes widened in shock but not long enough for Riku to notice. She wasn't going to tell? "You're cheating! Interrogating people! I get to interrogate Kairi on behalf of your childishness!" "What?!? For your information, I've been on my best behavior," Riku said smugly. "Yeah right! I'll ask Kairi when she gives us our cookies but I don't even need to do that, you're already on charges for being a jerk!"

"What??! C'mere you!" Riku once again gave Sora a noogie, this time a little harder. Rhea couldn't help but wonder if they were like this all the time. "Ow!! no! my head hurts!" "I'm sure it does!" "Ah..." Rhea began, "Shouldn't you stop?" "He'll be alright. If he can stand up to giant heartless, he can take this," Riku explained.

"All I see is pain!!!"

"That's what your eyes WANT you to believe!"

Sora just started flailing around trying to get away from Riku.

"You guys.." a familiar voice said behind them; Riku quickly pushed Sora away, "He started it." causing Sora to fall flat on the ground. "...Actually," Kent said just staring at Sora, "I was going to ask Rhea her new orders on what we should do from here. Serra's complaining she wants to rest at the inn but Lord Hector wants us to quickly debate about the new morph then move out."

"But it's dark out already...he wants to debate now?" Rhea asked.

"He's rather ruthless right now..."

"I see...ok then, let's go..." Rhea then turned her attention back to two boys, "Um...I'll be back..." "Ow...o,k" Sora found himself saying. "Later," Riku replied. Rhea nodded and walked off with Kent.

"Do you think we're going to have to leave town?" Sora asked Riku sitting Indian-style. "Well, I dunno. Judging by what they say about the big blue guy, we might," Riku said putting his hands behind his head. "But I don't wanna!" Sora protested almost sounding as bad as Serra, "My feet hurt!" Riku sighed, "Tell me about it. Plus look how dark it is. Do they SERIOUSLY plan on traveling out somewhere?"

"All they talk about is bandits as if im scared of a moron with a butter knife." Sora said bluntly. Riku laughed, "Bandits? Are you serious?" "I know!" Sora said while laughing also, "They think a stupid bandit is going to make me paranoid!"

"Man, these people are weird!"

"That's why im happy I found you guys so soon! Any longer and I would have gone crazy!" "Anymore sleeping outdoors and I might go crazy!"

"Aw," Sora teased. "The high maintenance Riku actually had to dirty his perfect hair while sleeping on an ant filled tree while I slept in a king sized bed at a palace!"

"WHAT?!?! A PALACE?!?!? That is SO not fair?!?" "Heh, heh," Sora said smirking smugly, "I guess you just have bad luck!" "Tell me about it..."

Sora saw the troubled look in Riku's face and started feeling guilty. "Well don't worry! Just stick next to me and my luck will rub on you!"

"You mean your luck of bumping into trees? No thanks." "W-what!? No! That was an accident!" Riku laughed. "Yeah, 'accident.' You had it comin'!"

"It was the evil little girl! Seriously!"

"You mean the small one, or the crazy one?"

"The small one! She's the last person I saw before the world went dark..."

Riku laughed again. "Are you serious? The little one is harmless! She doesn't even know that you can't eat leaves!" He then got more serious, "That older one on the other hand, the one the others called a 'morph'..." "Her...you guys saw her before right?" Sora asked with a hint of curiosity. "Yeah, we saw both of them at the town we were at before this one..."

"What did they do!?"

"Oh you know, terrorize people here, send heartless there..."

"Maybe Maleficent really is alive..."

"I wouldn't doubt it. I don't think there's any way that kid is doing all this by herself..."

"But how!? I defeated her like 2 times already!"

"Maleficent has her ways, I guess..."

"But this one seems like a really stupid useless pawn! There's no way we can convince her." "Doesn't seem like it. She strikes me as the type who won't give up no matter who gets in the way or won't even listen as long as things go her way..."

"Like you!" Sora pointed out "What?!? No not like me! What are you talking about?" Riku said crossing his arms and pouting a little. "You were all like- 'Sora you suck! I'm going to the darkness, screw you sucker', and I was all like- 'no Riku you're so mean!'"

"Oh whatever!" Riku said finally sitting down Indian-style and muttering, "I don't sound like that." "Yes you do," Sora insisted.

"Guys!" A feminine voice yelled right after. It was Kairi running towards them with a basket.

"The cookies! Already?"

"It only takes a bit more than 10 minutes. You guys must have made time pass by quick," Kairi said while looking around, "Where's Rhea?" "Her friends of royalty summoned her," Riku explained. "Did something happen?"

"Apparently they're trying to figure out if we should just leave now and find out where those girls went or wait 'til something else happens or something."

"I see..."

"Did you make my cookies?"

"Of course!" Kairi said opening the basket, "They're still a little hot." "That means don't touch them or we'll have another one of your episodes Sora," Riku said.

"Better than a Riku hissy fit!" "I'll show you a hissy fit!" "I'm back!" came Rhea's voice as she walked over to them, "Oh, the cookies are ready?" "Yeah," Kairi said secretly happy Rhea came when she did, "Time really passes by."

"So what are we doing?"

"Well it took me a while to convince them-Serra helped a lot too-but we're gonna stay here for the night, but we leave first thing in the morning after breakfast," Rhea explained. "Alright!" Sora said happily while diving in to take a chocolate chip cookie. Riku sighed. "3...2...1..." "Ow! My tongue got burned! But I waited a minute!" "That's true..." Kairi said then she took out a canteen, which Sora happily took, "I brought water too."

"Good thinking otherwise Mr. Impatient here woulda lost that tongue of his!" Riku teased. "Hmph!" Sora said while drinking his water. "I brought you guys some too!" Thank ya very much," Riku said taking a canteen then a cookie. "Yes, thank you," Rhea said politely taking the canteen.

"Hey guys! I know what we can do!" Sora suddenly exclaimed. "Hm?" Kairi said through a mouthful of cookie. "Rhea, could I borrow a piece of paper?"

"Ah, sure," she said ripping out a blank page in her journal and handing it to him.

Sora then started to rip it to wide strips. "We'll all write our wishes on these papers and keep it! And every time we get a new wish we put it down! We'll keep doing it until the end of this journey!"

"What? What kind of idea is that?" Riku asked.

"See Kairi? Pity Riku- he has no dreams."

"I do so have dreams, don't be ridiculous."

"Like what?" Sora said bringing everyone's attention to Riku.

"Wha-Why should I tell you?"

"Fine put it on the paper! But expect me to peak at it in the end!"

"In that case...Can I borrow a pencil?" Riku asked Rhea.

"Pencil?"

"Or whatever you guys write with?" She handed him a pen then he started to scribble something on his strip of paper. "There!"

Sora by natural instinct tried to take a peek. "Here ya go," he gave Sora the paper then started writing on another strip. "Huh?" Sora said as he started reading it. _"I'll show YOU who doesn't have dreams! That's why you'll never know what I wrote!" At the bottom of the paper was a little face sticking its tongue at while the word "Sucker!"_ was written next to it.

Sora had a feeling in his gut to shove the paper in Riku's face while calling him a jerk but he decided to keep those thoughts and not actions for the sake of being Sora. "Looks like Riku has something to hide. Maybe its about Kaiiiiriiii!" Sora teased as Kairi's face began to get as red as her hair. "Sh-shaddup!" Riku said turning his head away. "Heh heh," Sora snickered as he embarrassed his two best friends in front of Rhea.

Rhea couldn't help but watch in amusement as this occurred. _Even in their current situation they're able to laugh and enjoy themselves. _she thought to herself. "Are you going to write down something Rhea?" Sora asked interrupting her thoughts. "Oh! Yeah..." she then wrote on her little strip.

"Are you Kairi?"

"Of course! I don't want to miss out on all the fun!" "Here," Rhea handed her the pen she was using. "Thank you," Kairi said as she began writing hers down in her scratchy yet swirly cursive. "Your turn Sora!" she said smiling while handing the pen to Sora. "Alright!" he said writing his down. "I even have one to show Riku!"

He then began to write on another strip and show it to Riku, which bluntly had _"Your hair is messy and dirty"_ on it with a happy face. "That can't be helped! There's no shampoo!" Riku pouted. "If there's a comb or anything like that I'd brush it," Kairi volunteered, she hated to see Riku get upset about his hair but she had to admit she knew how hard it was to keep up long hair, Sora just wouldn't understand. "H-huh??" Sora said abruptly. "Well we have combs...just not this...sham...poo you speak of," Rhea noted. "I guess we'll have to use clean water eh Riku?" "Yeah hopefully lakes exist in this world," Riku joked.

"Hey Riku while we're at it can I braid your hair too," Sora said annoyed that he was taking up Kairi's offer, somehow Sora couldn't help but get jealous at times like this. "I'll pass on that! Don't think I forgot about what happened when we were little!" "Hm?" Sora said acting innocent. "W-what happened?" Rhea asked curiously. "Well this one here saw Kairi and our friend Selphie braiding each others hair, then got the bright idea that maybe we should try it too," Riku began. "I-I was only 6!" Sora defended before Riku could go any further. "Makes no difference! Anyway, he couldn't figure out how they did it, and when he tried, he pulls out a big clump of my hair!" Riku exclaimed.

Kairi then burst out giggling. "I remember that! It was enough for a Brenda doll's head! And remember when we went to us for help and show us it? Selphie passed out screaming!" _Oh geez they're all teasing me now!_ Sora thought. "It's not funny! You have no idea how long it took me to brush my hair until the bald spot couldn't be seen! OR how long it took that hair to grow back," Riku said looking at Sora. "Hissy fit!" Sora said in defense feeling as if Riku would a throw a bunch of rocks at him right now to make up for lost times- or hair for that matter. "Is not!" Riku said in his defense. Rhea couldn't help but giggle a little at the childish bickering of the two boys.

"Rhea! You and your friends should hurry inside its getting late!" a familiar voice known as Lyn's said in the somewhat distance. "Aw! But we were having fun!"

"We should do a slumber party!"

"Half of us aren't girls Kairi!"

"You'd better hope Serra didn't hear you say the words 'slumber party'," Rhea said, "It always ends in chaos." "C-chaos?" Sora dared ask. "Well every time Serra plans a 'slumber party,' some of the guys always play childish pranks..."

Kairi smiled determinedly showing almost a scary side of her. "We'll just have the men make sure that doesn't happen!"

"What, us?"

"Sorry I meant boys."

"H-hey!"

Kairi then smiled, "You'll do it right guys? It will be a nice turn on the boys!" "Don't change the subject if they're boys what about us!?"

"Yeah seriously!" "C'mon you guys. It's not like you can have a boy's night out because you'd be with...well...the boys...doing...who knows what." "Hey! We'd...she's right..." Sora admitted in defeat. "We'd better get going now, it is really late after all," Rhea said starting to walk. "Ok!" Sora said happily as he got up then lent Kairi and hand to get up, and surprisingly enough to Riku also.

Riku took it and dusted himself off. "We do get to sleep in beds right?" he asked. "Of course! It's an inn! Though with so many of us, we have to share rooms," Rhea stated.

"I wouldn't mind sharing a room with Kairi!" Sora said boldly to Kairi's surprise.

"Yeah...dude? You're a dude."

"Shut up Riku," Sora said, "You just want to hog her for yourself! I barely got to talk to her ever since I found you guys!" "It's ok Sora. I have a feeling we won't be going back home tomorrow."

"Yeah who knows how long it'll take. We don't even know HOW to get back yet."

"We'll find a way. I'm sure of it," Rhea said.

"We'll count on you then Rhea!" Sora said cheerfully, "If you let us down you owe us one!" "Yeah you'll totally owe us so you'd better keep your word!" Riku said. "Ah, ok? You have my word on it then."

They headed towards the inn to find everybody in the lobby debating the sharing issue. "Hey look they're back!" Serra announced. "We can see that," Erk replied. "How many rooms are there!?" Sora asked hoping it would be more than 12. "Well...enough for us to sleep in, but some of us have to share rooms," Serra said pouting. "Ok let's draw straws!" Sora said ignorantly. "Actually we kinda already decided," Wil said. "What!?" "Yeah but at least you guys get rooms to yourselves!" Wil said cheerfully. "And I get to share with Florina and Ninian!" Serra exclaimed.

"We're not sharing?"

"Aww I'm sorry! When we have a slumber party we'll definitely share!" Serra said cheerfully. "There's those words again..." Rhea said quietly.

Despite Serra's words Sora was real happy. "Good night everyone! "G'night!" they all said in unison. "C'mon Sora I'm tired, let's go find our room," Riku said stretching. "Yeah," he said nodding in agreement then faced Kairi and Rhea, "See you guys in the morning! And Rhea you don't have to worry about me waking up late! I'm going to be responsible so no one will have to baby me!"

Rhea smiled. "I have your word on that then." "C'mon Riku!" Sora said running off. "Yeah yeah, just watch out for doors opening," Riku said taking his time.

It was a nice and peaceful night, but it the morning it was a totally different thing. Other people at the inn were haggling Sora and his friends about their foreign clothes. "Exactly what region of Elibe ARE you from?" "What sort of fabrics are those?" "How many animals did you have to kill to make those?!?" "What's your name?!?!" The last question was mostly directed at Riku. "Disney, you wouldn't be able to find it, none!, and he doesn't want you!" Sora answered agitated, he didn't wake up with a Riku nagging him just so people could give him a morning Q and A.

"Just ignore them guys! They don't mean any harm!" Rhea called to them from the other side of the lobby waving for them to come over. "Oh there you are Rhea!" Kairi said admitting it was hard to see past the crowd. "..." Riku remained silent through all of this. Though he was aggravated and irritated from having to be awake so early he tried not to let the crowd get to him for if they did all hell would break loose afterwards. "My you guys are popular" Lyn said coming downstairs. "Not really they just want our clothes, and Riku" Sora added. "Well who wouldn't?!? Your dress is sooooo cute!" Serra exclaimed sliding down the rail, with Erk quietly walking down the stairs after her.

Kairi looked at her dress then came to a decision. "We need to change our clothes." "What!? Aw why! I look so badass!"

"Sora we're going to be here for a while, we may as well try to fit in to avoid attention."

"We're always going to get attention with Mr. Lather, rinse, and repeat!" Sora said insulting Riku while trying to get a point across. "Do you want a nosebleed this early in the morning Sora? I can arrange it," Riku said threateningly. Sora stuck out his tongue. "Is there any way we could go to a tailor or?" "Hector said we should immediately leave after breakfast and the tailor would take a while," Lyn replied. "I see..."

"We could come to an agreement though," Lyn said now gambling.

"R-really?"

"You, Sora and Riku have a meeting with me, Hector, Eliwood and Rhea and tell us all you know and we'll arrange the clothes," she said knowing Sora and Riku weren't planning on telling them any information today.

"Where's the orange juice?" Riku asked not really paying attention to the conversation. Sora just yawned not paying attention either, Kairi thought this to be a nuisance and yet a weird blessing; Sora and Riku would have objected saying anything if they actually listened to the conversation. "It's a deal!"

"Alright. Breakfast is that bowl of fruit on the table." "AH HA HA! AH HA HA HA! HA...that's funny," Sora said distinctly remembering eating a real meal for breakfast. "Thank you? Anyways I'll alert the lords so eat up," she said while making her way outside the door.

"Hey you didn't tell us where we eat breakfast!" "Right there," Rhea said pointing to the table. "Awww, no oatmeal?!? Oh well," Serra said picking an apple from the bowl and taking a bite. "Thank you," Kairi said while walking over there, "This apple looks fresh!"

The emotion on Sora and Riku's face was as predicted- complete horror. "What kind of breakfast is that!?! Wait! I know what's going on!" Sora said while pushing Riku from his side, "Your bad luck is rubbing off!" "WHat!?? If anything it's yours! Ah shoot I'm gonna be hitting trees AND doors next thanks to you!" Riku snapped back.

"I only hit one and it was Serra's!"

"So that means I'm gonna hit like 5!...Thanks a bunch." "That doesn't even add up!" Sora protested.

"Hector, Eliwood, good news!" Lyn said as soon as she reached them. "Those kids magically disappeared and we can all go home?" Hector asked. "...Merlinus disappeared?" Eliwood suggested.

"No," Lyn said aggravated already. "I made a deal with the children. We provide them with clothes and they'll tell us what they know." "What seriously?!?!" Hector's mouth dropped. "Nice work Lyn!" Eliwood said. "Thank you. And yes Hector, seriously. Maybe if you used tactic instead of force you'd know that but then again I guess that's why you have Oswin," Lyn insulted. "What is that supposed to mean?!?" Hector yelled. "Guys...not out here...and so early..." Eliwood said. "Very well," Lyn replied but part of her wanted to tell Hector what she meant, "So what shall we do about the clothes?" "Well we'd have to find a tailor somewhere right?" "Yes," Lyn said while nodding. "I don't think there's one here...This town's really small," Hector stated. "True it would be a miracle to find one. But at the same time we have to keep our end of the bargain. Let's have someone search around for one." "Let's make Merlinus do it. He knows about shops and stuff," Hector noted. "That's a sound idea," Eliwood agreed. "Alright," Lyn said.

"Too slow!" Sora said taking the orange Riku was heading for, as soon as Riku headed for an apple Sora took that too. "Seriously dude, you're BEGGING for that bloody nose," Riku said. Sora stuck out this tongue as he bit out of Riku's apple. Rebecca who has joined them only a few minutes ago after coming down stairs giggled. "Wow. You two act so cute!" "Yeah reeeal cute," Riku said drowsily. "How can you be so sleepy when you're the one waking ME up!" Sora protested.

"I couldn't really sleep because of YOUR horrible snoring!"

"I don't snore!!!"

"Guys," Kairi said reasoning. "Not so early!" "If that's what you wanna think," Riku said grabbing a pear.

As soon as Riku said that Lyn had came into the room. "Hello. Sora, Riku, Kairi. You guys and Rhea have a meeting with us now." "Huh? We do?" "Come on guys!" Kairi said while getting up. "But I haven't finished my pear yet. And I want my orange juice!" Riku complained. "You may take it with you," Lyn said and with that walked out. "Hey wait up!" Sora said.

All of a sudden they were all under a tree. "Alright we're here to discuss the recent issues-" "What!? What do you mean?" "What do you mean 'what do you mean?!?' There's a surviving morph kid out there trying to bring the worst being in all of existence back to life!" Hector said angrily. "Hector..." Eliwood said, "but he does speak truth. If Nergal is brought back to life, this world will mostly likely suffer, especially if he intends to bring the dragons back like he tried to last time..."

"Wait I'm confused!" Sora said hopelessly. "So this person Nergal. He created 'morphs'?" Kairi said trying to break everything down for her, Riku and Sora to understand. "That is correct," Eliwood said, "He used them to collect quintessence for him so that he could become stronger." "And what exactly IS quintessence?" Riku asked taking a bite of his pear, "that 'morph' girl said it a lot." "Quintessence is the very essence of a person's life," Rhea explained, "Without it...they die..."

"It's like a heart" Sora mused. "That's why she took that heartless," Kairi deducted. "We've already lost...some to Nergal's crazed ways," Eliwood said remembering his father, "and we want to make sure it doesn't happen again...that's why..."

Sora then got to his determined mode. "I understand! I'll do everything I can to make sure he won't come back!" "But Sora. If you kill heartless that will help her and I doubt you can defeat her she seems strong" "I'm strong too!" "But you gotta remember she's getting help from Maleficent," Riku added. "That's also something we want to talk about. Exactly who IS this Maleficent?" Eliwood asked. "She's an evil witch who used Riku! She uses people and she's going to use that morph girl!" Sora said furiously. Kairi nodded in agreement. "Yeah. She wants Kingdom Hearts." "Kingdom..." Eliwood started. "Hearts?" Hector finished.

"It's hard to explain but it's this moon in the shape of a heart," Kairi explained, "It's really important."

"And heartless! They're creatures that emerge when people lose their hearts and they start taking other people's hearts until they have the biggest one which is Kingdom Hearts!"

"And she wants Kingdom Hearts...why?" Hector asked. "Ultimate power," Riku said bluntly.

"Will Kingdom Hearts show up here?"

"Nah I don't think so. It has to have a lot of hearts!"

"So then, I assume she's strong," Hector said. "Strong with magic, can turn into a dragon, manipulative, the works," Riku added bluntly.

"What if she finds out Riku's here!?"

"She won't bother. Riku's stronger than that now!" Kairi assured. "Damn right. I'm not falling for her lies, ever again," Riku said determined. "Yeah right. We all know even a bug could manipulate you Riku!" Sora teased. Riku merely took another bite of his pear to prevent from saying something mean.

"So Maleficent is working with the morph. It's obvious the morph wants Nergal while Maleficent wants Kingdom Hearts...both a very bad idea," Lyn concluded.

"Yeah but there's no way Maleficent could care about what the morph wants."

"She won't care what happens to the morph girl as long as she gets what she wants," Riku added. "But there would be no way to convince the morph out of it. In a way she's blinded," Lyn stated. "No! We have to try! If she has so much feeling she must have some good somewhere! Besides she was looking over that one kid!" Kairi reasoned. "Yeah...the little one..." Riku said quietly. "So then...what we must do...is try to...talk to this...morph girl..."Eliwood said. "I dunno, if Nergal wouldn't even listen to his best friend, ol' Graybeard, chances are she won't listen to us," Hector stated. "Maybe we can convince the little girl to convince her!" Kairi brainstormed. "Isn't that kinda wrong?" Sora said nervously. "But what the older one is doing is wrong!" Hector added, "I say if she wants to play dirty we should too!"

Sora's right eye twitched a bit at that statement, "We'll do that on your own time, I'm not going to manipulate a little girl!" "Yeah that's pretty low Lord Hector," Rhea said quietly. "I want to make sure everyone is safe too, but if we do it like villains we'll be treated like villains," Kairi explained to Hector. "Right, so then we negotiate with the little girl to see if she can get the morph girl to stop what she's doing! Then maybe we can go after Maleficent as well!" Eliwood said determined. _IF you can..._Riku thought to himself. "But what if the girl doesn't want to negotiate?" Kairi mused. "Then we'll just have to put a stop to her," Hector said. "The morph or the kid?" Sora asked confused.

"The morph of course!"

"What if the girl tries to stop us?"

"What can a little girl do?!?"

_There he goes again..._Rhea thought. "She can cry, she can beg, she can plead, she can demise-"

"She's just a little girl! The one we need to worry about is the morph!"

"Hector! Calm down!"

"Bah!"

And with that Hector stormed off.

"Does that mean the meeting is over?"

"Sora!"

"It'd probably be best if hurry up though," Rhea said quietly, "Just let Lord Hector calm down a little and afterward Lord Eliwood could inform him on our decision, yes?" "Right," Eliwood agreed. "Oh yeah. By the way do you guys have any special doors anywhere?" Sora asked. "Special doors?" Eliwood repeated.

"Yeah for my keyblade. Any door with a big keyhole!"

"Well the only 'special' door I can think of is the Dragon's Gate..."

"What's that?" "That...was Lord Nergal's goal..." Eliwood quietly said, "It is a door, or a portal rather, to goes to the realm of the dragons. It is their world as they went there after the Scouring." "Scouring?" Kairi asked.

"Long time ago, humans and dragons got along with each other, however a great war tore them apart. That is known as the Scouring," Rhea explained. "All seemed lost for the humans until the 8 Heroes defeated them," Eliwood continued, "Dragons then went to another world, which can only be entered from the Dragon's Gate."

"So Nergal wants dragons?"

"Yes, he wanted the dragons so that he could steal their quintessence and become even more powerful," Rhea said.

"Alright I think I understand everything. This will be another adventure to go home! Again..."

"Look on the bright side, at least this time we have a whole army with us," Riku said, with no one able to tell if that were a compliment or sarcasm. "It's a blessing and a curse," Kairi pointed out making sure she made it seem Riku was saying a compliment. "I see, well then it's great to have you with us," Eliwood said.

"I just want to go home," Sora said making that clear. "And you will," Lyn said, "As soon as you help us."

"Right, the sooner we get this accomplished I'm sure the sooner your pathway home will become clear."

"Yup!" Sora said; deep inside him he kinda wishing Donald and Goofy were around with them, he would always be motivated and forced to smile- and behave too. "Well, with that said I suppose this meeting's over," Rhea said, "Better go fill Lord Hector in on the situation Lord Eliwood."

"Right."

"Where do you think that morph girl went?" Sora asked Eliwood and Rhea before they decided to walk out of the silly meeting. "Who knows? Possibly back to Dread Isles, but one thing's for sure," Eliwood started. "With us around she WILL come back to try to finish us off," Rhea finished. "Yeah right. She might be strong but I'll find some weakness! I always do!" Sora said not exaggerating.

Every battle he's ever had or at least a serious battle and not hack-n-slash, he's always able to find some way to defeat the enemy through strategy, even Riku. "Right, we'll surely find it," Rhea agreed as they walked off to Hector's location. "On another note where did Hector go off to?" Kairi asked. "To do some fe-fi-fo'ing, duh" Sora joked. "Pfff, I couldn't really care less, but what are we gonna do now? Are they gonna go to this 'Dread Isles' place? What about our side of their bargain?" Riku said finally more awake. "What do you mean Riku? We're helping each other out," Kairi reminded.

"Weren't they supposed to do something about our clothes or something?"

"I hope mines is as cool as the clothes I have on now," Sora said. "I'm curious about that too but I'm sure they need to find a tailor who can take our measurements."

"Kairi you're as skinny as a Vicky's Secret model! They probably won't know how to handle it!" Sora said snickering. Riku couldn't help but burst out laughing at this comment until he straightened himself up after getting a threatening glare, "I'm sure yours will capture your true...personality?"

"I hope so," Kairi and Sora said at the same time.

"...So we're going after the morph kid right?!?" Hector said excitedly as the trio came over. "Well...possibly..."Eliwood said quietly. "We're pretty much going by what we said earlier Lord Hector," Rhea explained confidently, "plus we're going to figure out a way for them to get home as well. However, we aren't exactly certain where she is now, so the best thing for us to do is wait for her to find us-which I am certain she will-again. Then we could possibly get her to tell us something more about this Maleficent because she most likely knows how to get them home."

"...You talk too much sometimes, you know that?"

"If only you'd paid attention," Lyn said annoyed.

"Too many children around, no offense Rhea."

Rhea merely crossed her arms and sighed, "There's still our part of the bargain though-they've already told us what we wanted to know..."

"That's right, the tailor..."

"There definitely isn't one in this town..." Rhea said. "How about Ostia Hector? I believe we're pretty close..." Eliwood suggested. "Bring them-to MY territory?!?" Hector said as if shocked.

"Uh, yes, because we're close to it."

"They're not going to bring the place into flames Hector," Lyn said. "Besides, if we can give Merlinus rights to set up shop there, then we can certainly allow 3 kids into Ostia," Eliwood said. "Not to mention most of our group consists of 'kids' anyway," Rhea added. "...Bah! Fine. I'll go tell Oswin..." "Good," Lyn said happy he wasn't causing an unnecessary argument.

"I guess I'd better inform Marcus then," Eliwood said as they both departed in different directions.

Lyn watched as they both walked off then walked off herself to the inn.

"I'm hungry!" Sora said directly out of nowhere, "What does a guy have to do to get some food around here?" "Usually they have to do odd jobs for people. That's the job of a mercenary," Rhea said walking up to the trio. "Mercenary for the day huh?" Sora said.

"Don't even think about it Sora, as if we could afford you doing something odd!"

"Oh it's not THAT kind of odd! Just take out bandits here, retrieve stolen items there..." "That's the kinda job for me!" Sora said soon after Rhea's response. "Oh yeah, you'd make on hell of a mercenary," Riku said sarcastically. "You too!" Sora said. "I know I would," Riku said proudly, "no bandit can withstand the might of me." "Wow, someone's...confident," Rhea said. "Don't worry he's not like that often," Kairi assured. "So where do we sign up?" Sora asked.

"Well since you're with us you're practically already mercenaries...congrats."

"That's the easiest test I've ever taken in my whole life!"

"I'll bet," Riku agreed. "And the only thing Riku didn't have to ruin his hair for!"

"Ha ha ha."

"Now let's go get jobs Riku!"

"Um, I don't think so; We have to leave soon," Rhea reminded them.

"We won't take long!" Sora said avoiding reasoning. "Unacceptable. You guys are strangers to a different world. You would have no idea what you're getting yourselves into. Besides, we'll be so busy fighting, you won't have need for jobs anyway."

"You act like I haven't been to different worlds before!"

Riku gave Rhea a look that read: Don't get him started. Rhea crossed her arms, sighed and remained silent. Just then Serra and Erk arrived. "Aren't you guys ready yet? The others are leaving now!" "What already!?" Sora said as if he didn't even listen to what Rhea said before. "It was mentioned that we'd leave first thing in the morning," Rhea said, "but because of our little 'meeting' we're running a little late." "Meeting?" Serra asked. "Ask Lord Hector," Rhea told her. _Though I doubt he'd be willing to tell._ "Ok! Well hurry it up!" Serra exclaimed dragging Erk along as usual. "Ok! Off on another adventure, eh?" Riku said getting up and stretching. "Yeah seems like it," Kairi said agreeing while standing up. "Let's head out then," Rhea said.

Sora got up and was already moping. "Don't worry Sora. Maybe at the next town you can start your personal adventure!" Kairi said trying her best to make sure Sora would take this journey they were already on seriously. "Yeah...Sora's Grand Adventure. Totally can't wait!" Riku said. Sora smiled at his friends' attempts. It really made him feel better. "Yeah! This time you guys will be here so it will be great!" he said making him wonder where Goofy and Donald were and if they were ok.

* * *

Kchan: Thanks for reading chapter 5! We hope you enjoyed it!  
Naomi: Stay tuned...  
Kchan: Yep, stay tuned for the next chapter!  
Naomi: Be surprised...  
Kchan: Please continue to R&R! Goodbye!


	7. Chapter 6: Problems Arising

Hi all, it's been a while since me and my partner have posted a new chapter here. We're very sorry for that, but we're finally back, with plenty of ideas and new chapters! So let's go ahead and get started, shall we?

Disclaimer: We donot own Kingdom Hearts OR Fire Emblem, otherwise the events of this fic would be ALL too accurate and true.

* * *

".........So....how much longer till we get there?"

"I swear Serra, if you ask that ONE MORE TIME."

"But Lord Hector...."

"All she does is complain, huh?" Riku whispered to Sora. "And heal people," Sora whispered back, "but she does more damage than repair." "Don't let her hear you say that," Rhea warned. "What's the worst she can do? She already pushed me," Sora pointed out.

"You really wanna know?"

Serra appeared in front of him smiling cheerfully. "HELP!" Sora yelled out in first instinct hiding behind Kairi in an instant.

"S-sora! She's just joking!"

"Is not! She's going to smite me when you all turn your backs!"

"Well, y'know this staff isn't just for healing but don't worry, you're my friend Sora, so I'll never hurt you!" Serra said walking back to the front of the traveling group, but not without giving Sora a devious look first.

Sora gave a horrified look in exchange. "Congratulations," Kent said with sarcasm as he walked ahead of Sora.

"Riku....I'm scared."

"Oh no, you're not gonna have that she-devil stalking me," Riku said. Sora, not caring about Riku's fear then hid behind him. "I don't want to die!"

Kairi just laughed, "You guys act so paranoid. This is probably part of her scheme."

"Like you can talk, you didn't get the evil eye!"

"Don't worry! The most dangerous part of Serra is her mouth," Rhea said adding quietly, "Which never seems to shut."

"Even that can kill me!"

"If it can't kill that guy I'm sure you're fine," Riku said motioning to Erk, "but then again maybe not."

"He's so quiet..." Kairi noted. "Maybe Serra is doing a world record and is trying to get him to talk," Sora teased. "Erk's not that quiet, he just has a LOT of patience with her, which is respectable in a way," Rhea said. "It's kinda cute!" Kairi said out loud. "What's so cute about that?" Sora asked.

"How nice he is to her."

"I think he's scared of her," Riku said. Sora couldn't help but snicker at the comment. "I'll PROVE he isn't!" Kairi said boldly. "This I gotta see," Riku said.

Kairi smiled smugly as she walked fast over to the chatterbox Serra and broken box Erk. "Oh hi guys! What are you talking about?" Kairi said. She wished she could have chosen her words better but it's what came out of her mouth. "Hmmm? We were just talking about our future plans!" Serra exclaimed. "She's joking by the way," Erk said. Kairi couldn't help but smile.

"I hope she isn't. You guys look so cute together!"

"I know! We're totally the perfect couple!" Serra squealed grabbing Erk who twitched in response, which Kairi noticed. A twitch like that only Serra couldn't notice.

"And it looks like you guys care a lot for each other too."

"You betcha! Right Erk?"

"Please stop talking."

Kairi just couldn't get anything out of him! He wouldn't admit his feelings out in the open if there were any and at the same time he wasn't exactly denying it, just pushing it away. He was a big mystery, a mystery she wanted to solve.

"Oh no Riku. Kairi has that look on her face..."

"And that's my cue to walk away."

Too late. Kairi came back with the same smile on her face. "Looks like I have a personal mission!" she said.

"Aw geez Kairi, now's not to time to play around.""I'm not! I just want to know Erk's deep feelings."

"Kairi don't bother! Erk's a guy! He has no need to express his deepest emotions."

"You guys went to me for emotions all the time.""We were kids!" Sora protested.

"Exactly, we were young and stupid!" Riku added.

"And cute!" Kairi said cheerfully as a singing bird making Sora blush. "Kaiiiirrri!" he whined. "Cute" was not something he liked being called.

"Yeah, not in front of the mercenary people!" Riku groaned.

"Fine, but you're still my cute little boys!" Kairi said teasingly while pinching Riku's cheeks. "Kairi's been hanging around mom too long," Sora mused.

"Oh yeah. And knock it off!"

Kairi giggled as she stopped.

"They're almost livelier than Serra," Lyn said to the other lordlings. "Yeah, looks like our little tactician has grown a liking to them too," Hector said. "I wonder how much of a liking," she said eyeing Sora. It was no doubt since the first day he and Rhea have been getting along better.

"Hey look! This looks like a wishbone!" Sora said to Rhea referring to the stick in his hand.

"Huh, so it does..."

"Let's try it out!"

"But I don't think it works the same way with a stick..."

"Where's your sense of belief? If you think it will work it will! C'mon!"

Rhea sighed. "Ok, fine."

She took hold of the other end of the stick. "On 3! One...two....three!" with the last word that came out of Sora's mouth the stick snapped. "W-whoa! I can't believe it! I have most of the stick!" Sora said as if he won a million dollars. "That's only because when you and Riku did it you'd always end up with the short end," Kairi reminded.

"Yeah I know!" Sora said with his trademark smile. "So what did you wish for?" "More gold," Rhea said holding up her money pouch, which was almost empty. Kairi giggled, "What about you Sora?"

"Well....nothing. I want to keep this wish stick as long as I can....so incase I need it, it will be there," he said while smiling, he started walking faster enough to go ahead of the rest smiling the whole time.

* * *

"Is this Ostia?" Kairi asked Rebecca as they stopped in front of what looked like it could be Ostia. "Yeah," Rebecca said smiling. "It's....big...."Riku said. "Mmhmm, this is Lord Hector's country Ostia," Rhea said. "Home sweet home, eh Lord Hector?" Matthew said to Hector who looked very displeased.

"Bah."

"What's wrong Hector?" Lyn said in annoyed and almost threatening way.

"N-nothing," he quickly responded. "Hmmm, sounds like someone doesn't want to be back home," Eliwood teased. "So what if I don't?!?" Hector growled. Usually it was him who did all the teasing.

"You should be happy to be back home," Lyn added.

"Well I'm not."

"Is it because you're not ready to take over for your brother?" Eliwood asked.

"...."

For once Lyn didn't know what to say. She couldn't lie and say he would make a marvelous marquess because Hector was Hector, but she had no idea he was worried about all of it.

"Maybe you just need a little bit more time..."

"Yeah, maybe another year, or ten."

"C'mon Hector, if your brother Uther could rule, you can do it as well. And if you need help, you always have Oswin and us," Eliwood said assuring. "He has a point, milord," Oswin added. "....You're all a bunch of softies," Hector said. Lyn knew that saying was just a Hector way of a thanks. "Let's go inside."

Ostia was definitely an extremely large city. Compared to the past ones the group had visited, this one had more places to go, including dozens of shops with busy merchants, large buildings, and the largest building, Castle Ostia, standing mightily among it all. "Whoa..." Sora said looking up, "This is the PERFECT place to start!" "I'll say. It must have EVERYTHING. Except a McDonalds," Riku commented. "Yeah," Kairi agreed watching everyone in their own discussions about what they were going to do. "If we walk around there's SURE to be someone in need of help!" Sora added.

"Don't you think we should find the tailor first? It will take a while for them to finish the outfits. We might have to stay here a day or two," Rhea suggested. "Who cares about clothes?" Sora muttered.

"I do! C'mon Sora let's find a tailor!"

"Right, I'll need to go find Merlinus to get some money for us first though, what I have with me now just wouldn't do."

"He's probably near Eliwood," Sora guessed.

Rhea sighed. "Probably. All right I'll be back. Please don't wander too far..." she said walking in the direction the lords went. "I believe that means you Sora," Riku teased. Sora made a face. "Hmph. I'm offended, I listen to what I'm told right Kairi?" Sora said knowing Riku would just say what he felt off the bat. "Well yeah! In 2nd grade you got an award for being the best helper in class," she pointed out old memories. "Yeah! And all Riku got was an award for the most quiet in class!"

That Kairi also remembered, he was always quiet in class but when he was near her and Sora he was a natural chatterbox. "The other kids were boring and the teacher didn't know what he was doing," Riku pointed out. "Aw Riku," Kairi said sympathetically, "That's why all the other kids thought you were cool!" "You mean cold," Sora corrected.

"Ha ha, very funny, and that's why they thought YOU were a teacher's pet."

"So....Merlinus ISN'T here?" Rhea asked the lords. "I'm afraid not," Eliwood said quietly adding, "Thank goodness." "He went to his shop after I asked him 'If I gave you permission to set up shop in Ostia, WHY were you in that other town?!?!'" Hector said. "It was more like yelling than asking," Eliwood noted. "Honestly," Lyn said while sighing, "You think a little politeness wouldn't come a long way with Hector." "Politeness is for Eliwood," Hector responded. "Still!" Lyn pointed out then faced Rhea, "I'm sorry."

"Oh come on! I'm used to it! Lord Hector's Lord Hector and that's just the way it'll always be!" Lyn smiled at Rhea's reasoning.

"That's true. Why do you need Merlinus anyways?"

"Well, I was going to take the others to the tailor and well," she held up her money pouch and gently shook it.

"Oh that's right!" Lyn realized. Traveling made your head wander off sometimes. "Oh yeah, forgot they were even with us for a second," Hector said.

"Hector!"

"Well I did."

"It's not like they're as quiet as mice!" Lyn said getting back on Hector's case.

"Why does everyone always scold ME?!?"

"Because of the simple fact that you're you!" Eliwood replied. Rhea laughed.

"Rhea, I'm sure Merlinus hasn't gone far."

Rhea nodded, "OK, I'll go find him then. I'll see you guys later." "Bye little Rhea," Hector teased which earned him a twitch and a "don't call me that" glare.

"Mannnnnn! I'm tired of waiting!" Sora groaned.

"Sora, Rhea specifically said-"

"You just want new clothes!"

Dang.... he got her. "Ouch!" Riku said. _He's gonna regret saying that. _"Hmph!" Kairi said while turning around crossing her arms. She'd get him later. "Rhea!" Sora said as he saw her make her way back to the group, "What took you so long? So did you get the money?!"

"Sorry, Merlinus kept trying to make me buy stuff, but yes I got it."

"Alright let's find the tailor, then a person in need!"

Why he wanted to help someone out so much Rhea couldn't figure out.

After finding the tailor, the four decided to rest at the fountain near the center of the city. "So we have to wait overnight just for them to finish our stupid outfits?" Riku complained. "Riku you don't know the hard work that comes into making clothes," Kairi concluded.

"Forget that. Let's find some helpless civilian to help us be known!"

"What's with you and helping people? Let's just sit back and do nothing. Or maybe get some food," Riku said lazily. "What's with you and acting dead? We're alive, let's do something worth while!" Sora said cheerfully as he got up in front of his friends, "Heard of karma Riku? It's a good way of making up for all the mean stuff you've done before."

"Yeah whatever, it's also a way of getting on random people's nerves and perhaps have them chasing you down with pitchforks and torches."

"Or in your case fan girls."

Riku shuddered. "Don't mention them."

"You probably have some in our group Riku!" Kairi also pointed out flailing her feet a bit. This caused Riku to shudder even more. Rhea giggled, "You'd better hope Serra's not one of them!"

"....Sora, I'm scared."

"It's ok Riku! If you want, you can stay in my room and we can spend the whole night making an anti-fan girl cross!" Sora teased.

"Yeah let's do that, no way I'm letting that girl near me!"

"What does that make me and Rhea?" Kairi said annoyed. "Our best friends!" Sora admitted, "Best friends that are going to help me find a person in need!"

"Rhea! You guys!" a voice said behind Sora."Rebecca? What's wrong?" Kairi asked. "There's been a commotion around town, I think it's those 'heartless' creatures from before!""Heartless!? That means somebody needs our help! Alright!" Sora said running off. "Wait Sora! You don't even know where it is!" Kairi yelled after him but to no avail. "Dammit we haven't even had lunch yet," Riku complained as he followed Sora.

"They've even gotten as far as Ostia? Lord Hector must be really upset," Rhea said to Rebecca.

"He is. He kinda acted like Sora on impulse but more along the lines of 'Dammit I'll kill them if they hurt anybody!'" Rebecca recited.

"Oh no. We better make sure nothing bad happens!" Kairi cried.

Rhea nodded, "Let's go."

Near the entrance to the city, the rest of the group was already trying to deal with the hundreds of heartless that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. "Help is here!" Sora said running to the group with the late Riku, Rhea, Rebecca, and Kairi following. "Thank goodness," Lyn said who just finished with dealing with a heartless. "There's so many of them," Rhea said. "That doesn't matter! We'll just have to take them all down!" Riku said.

"Let's go!"

"Y-yeah..." Kairi said horrified, but nonetheless her keyblade appeared in her hand.

After what seemed like thousands of little hearts flew into the sky, it looked as if the amount of heartless there were to fight was endless. "Sora! When is this going to end!?" Kairi cried trying to reason with Sora who was trying to find a helpless civilian while fighting. "I know Kairi, just a little while longer-KAIRI!" he yelled. As she ran to him a big fat heartless jumped in front of her causing her to fall. "Oh no you don't!" Riku yelled as he slashed the heartless in the back causing it to disappear. "You ok Kairi?!?"

Kairi looked horrified and embarrassed as she got up and dusted herself off, "Fine! I'm perfect...I'm fine."

"Don't get all romantic on the battlefield!" Sora said out of jealousy.

"Sora!"

"This is very strange," Rhea said as she fended off a small armored heartless,

"With all these heartless around you'd think...she'd be here..."

"You mean me?"

"Oh it's YOU," Sora said boringly as Irene appeared out of nowhere. "Shouldn't you go off being a sidekick or something?" he said with a smug smile directed towards her.

Irene stamped her foot. "I am a sidekick to NOONE! I am merely a loyal servant of Lord-"

"WE DON'T CARE! HOW **DARE** YOU BRING THESE BEASTS TO MY COUNTRY!!!" Hector roared. "Merely returning the favor of KILLING my Lord Nergal!"

"Again with this lord dude," Sora said. "Hector, calm down!" Lyn said trying not to have the morph resort to more heartless.

"Yes, do calm down! This is a fight you won't win after all!" Irene chimed in.

Hector merely took his anger out on the nearby heartless.

"You're just asking for a fight now!" Sora said. He was trying to make it seem like he wasn't worried but he was. There were so many heartless- maybe not as much as the war back at Hollow Bastion, but there were so many people around. "Ooooh, I wouldn't be fighting me right now if I were you!" Irene said in a menacing way, "Otherwise those poor little souls trapped in the center of all these heartless will die!" That rang in Sora's ears. "Not if I get there first!" he said running to make his way over there. "Useless! You'll never get there!" Irene said as several heartless lunged out of the crowd at Sora.

"Don't underestimate me!" Sora yelled as he held his keyblade out to cast a spell. "Graviga!" A huge dark sphere appeared before Sora making heartless close to him get sucked and clumped onto the sphere. The rest of the group stared in awe at the sight, and the long-ranged users began shooting arrows and casting magic in that direction. "That's it!" Kairi said in resolve watching the long range users and magic casters destroy the heartless on the sphere which would last only for a while. "Riku let's help Sora cast Graviga so this battle will become a breeze!"

"Nonononoooo! I wasn't informed he uses magic toooooo!" Irene whined. "What's wrong?" Sora said while smirking, "Going to give up now?" "HA, you wish! But first I have a very nice piece of information for you and your little friends," Irene said smirking. "Information?" Sora asked almost gullibly. "Mmhmm, it even might help you get hooome," Irene said charmingly.

"Why should I believe you!?"

"Well it's your choice really. Maleficent told me this so you can either listen to what I have to say or die right here and now!"

Sora really wasn't for dying, but it was no use to put everybody in danger. "Fine! Tell me!"

Irene smirked. He completely fell for it. "Well, she tells me that in order for you guys to get home, you have to close some weird doors that opened up all over Elibe," she explained, "They appeared in places that YOU-"she pointed to the lords, "already visited, so lucky you, you don't have to travel somewhere new."

"But...last time she didn't want me to close any doors! What's different this time!?" Sora demanded.

"Well THIS TIME it'll open a portal that'll send you freaks home!"

"Freaks!?"

"And what's in it for you?" Kairi asked. "Oh nothing really," Irene said innocently. _Just the fact that if you close those doors you'll be opening the Dragon's Gate for me!_ "I don't believe that! You're lying!" Sora said, "We're not opening any stupid doors so you can forget it!"

"Hmmm, ok so I guess you'd rather die in this world then! I mean, one of the doors is here after all...."

"Here? WHERE IS IT?!?" Hector demanded. "How am I supposed to know? Maleficent told me that stupid giant key of his would find it!" Irene snapped.

Sora looked around as more heartless came as they talked.

"Will you un-summon the heartless if we find the door?"

"I might..."

"If you don't then there's no deal!" Sora replied practically gambling. "Ooooh you pull such a hard bargain," Irene said sarcastically, "Fine then." "Your end of the bargain first!" Sora said very proud of himself that he didn't get anyone killed. Irene sighed. "I hate dealing with simpletons."

With a snap of her finger, the crowd of heartless disappeared.

"Alright. I'll keep my part of the deal but if I see any heartless-"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. No heartless." _For now._ And with that, she vanished.

"So then where are those civilians?" Riku asked. "I'm guessing over there," Rhea pointed out as most of the group was circled around something. Sora ran over to the group. "Hey I wanna see!"

".....Hey.....are THESE civilians? They look like...animals," Wil said. "Oh no! That evil little girl must've turned them into animals!" Serra cried.

"Animals!? DONALD!? GOOFY!?"

"Sora!?" a quacky voice yelled inside the crowd. "OH MY GOODNESS IT TAAAAAAAAAAAAAALKS!!!!! HELP ME ERK!" Serra squealed clinging to him. Riku rushed through the center of the crowd. "I don't believe it. You guys are here too!!" "Riku!" the duck known as Donald said. "W-what happened!? How did you get here?" Sora asked.

"Well, gawrsh, we're not really sure," the one known as Goofy said, "We were back at the castle then this dark swirly portal appeared outta nowhere. Next thing we know, we're in some place we've never been before!" "That's the same thing that happened to me!" Kairi then made her way to the rest, "Riku was just helping me with my boat then a portal came out of the sky."

"This has to be destiny!" Sora exclaimed.

"Ayup!" Goofy agreed. "So then...these are the ones you told me about before?" Rhea asked finally regaining the nerve to speak. "Yeah!" Sora said while smiling, "Everyone this is Donald and Goofy, and this isn't magic they're just like this." "How odd..." was all Kent could say; maybe the boy wasn't lying about being from another world at all.

Everyone else seemed a little more relieved. Serra, as impulsive as she is, dared to pick Donald up. "Say something again!" she demanded. "Let me go!!!" Donald yelled in a fiery temper tantrum. "S-serra! Put him down! Donald calm down!" Sora warned even though it seemed too late. "Ooooh, you're a feisty little thing aren't you?!" Serra squealed accidentally dropping him. "Ack!" Donald cried as he roughly hit the ground. "Heh, sorry about that Donald," Sora said apologizing for Serra.

* * *

Lucretia looked at the flowers in the gardens. They were beautiful beyond belief and at the same time she had an urge to pick one. So she did. It was a petite pink one; she wanted to give it to Irene so she could enjoy it too.

Irene finally appeared at Lucretia's location. She was exhausted, but she tried her best not to show it.

"What are you doing?" Irene demanded.

"Here," was the simple reply of Lucretia as she shoved the flower in Irene's hand.

"....What...is this?"

"A flower."

"....I can SEE that, but why are you GIVING it to me?"

"It's pretty…"

"..."

Irene stared at the flower. She was almost entranced by its simple beauty.

"What did you tell the travelers?" Lucretia asked in curiosity bringing Irene out of her train of thought. "I told them what they needed to know," she answered.

"What's that?"

"I told them how they're supposed to get home of course!"

"How do they do that?"

"Why do you care?"

"I want to know too…"

Irene sighed. "Fine. In order for them to get home, they have to travel aaaaall over Elibe and open some dumb doors Maleficent was talking about. That way, the portal to their home will open. However... I didn't tell them that doing all that would coincidently open the door to the Dragon's Gate as well." Irene smiled menacingly.

"Dragons Gate?..."

This is far away from the fantasy books Lucretia's mother would read her.

"Ok, remember that BIIIIG building we went to a while ago?"

".....No...Yes..."

"And remember that BIIIIIG door that Maleficent is usually standing in front of?"

Lucretia nodded.

"That big door is the Dragon's Gate. Biiiig, scary dragons live on the other side of it. But for some reason when I tried opening it, all those heartless and Maleficent came out!"

"So Maleficent is your mother?"

Irene let out a scream. "NO, she is not my mother! I am NOT a dragon!"

"...Okay. Then who's your mother?"

"...I don't HAVE a mother. I only have Lord Nergal...well HAD Lord Nergal...but that'll all change soon..."

"So he's like a mother to you?"

"...."

Irene suddenly had the urge strangle this child, but she resisted. "No, not like a mother to me....more like a father I suppose....he did give me life after all..."

Lucretia felt the need to question Irene even further. Even if someone gave you life...was that a good enough reason to love them? She then held Irene's free hand, "I'm hungry..."

"Not again.... what's with humans and the need for food?"

"I'll die without it..."

Irene sighed.

"Fine....we'll go find you a dog or something..."

"I want food not a pet...."

"Well how am I supposed to know?!? Humans are so strange..."

* * *

"I....am....SOOOO hungry!" Sora yelled out of the blue. "Sora! You can't just say that after telling us about the doors!" Donald scolded. "He has a point though. The only thing we ate today was fruit. FRUIT!" Riku complained. "But we need to figure out where that door is," Rhea said. "Yeah. I did promise we'd find it," Sora admitted. "The morph said your keyblade should find it," Kairi pointed out. "How about we hurry it up then, eh Keyblade Master?" Riku said crossing his arms. "I don't know what to do! Me, Goofy and Donald usually found the doors..." Sora admitted. "Well then, the most logical thing to do would be to search the whole city until we find this 'door,'" Rhea said.

"That could take away some time from waiting for the clothes," Kairi stated. "Donald and Goofy! You're going to help too right?" Sora asked. "Well of course, ahyuck!" Goofy said.

"Great! Let's divide into teams then!"

"Splitting up into groups of two would make the work go by faster!" Goofy suggested.

"Alright! Anyone who wants to be on the cool team go with me!""Sora! Look, why don't we do this logically," Kairi said, "The teams need a logical thinker, a person with a good memory and a keyblade holder. Goofy and Donald can remember a lot of things. Rhea and Riku are really smart and me and Sora have keyblades!" Kairi decided. "Fine by me," Riku said, "but can we get lunch while we're at it?" "Riku," Kairi said while was weird! Finally, Sora was able to travel with his friends and he ended up on a team with Rhea and Donald! But he decided not to complain about it- some things you just don't complain about. "This seems about right," Kairi decided. "Awww, I wanted the one with the gold," Riku complained referring to Rhea.

"I could always give you some for food..."

"Would ya?!?!"

"Not now Riku, this is more important! If stalling is seen as not holding our word, heartless can come any minute! Now which side are the teams taking?" Kairi said as Goofy held the map. "We can take the right side, and you guys take the left, and we'll meet in front of the castle by the time the sun starts to set. The others will be expecting us around that time anyway," Rhea explained. "Right!" Donald said heading right. "Let's go," Sora groaned as he followed.

"Sooo....how exactly do we find this door? Does it...appear out of nowhere or something?" Rhea asked as the trio walked around town searching for this special door. "You know, when you see a big keyhole!" Donald started. "You'd think a big keyhole would be visible to a huge, busy town like this...unless there's some secret passages or something!" Sora finished.

"I think only Lord Hector would know about that..."

"I don't want to ask that buffoon!" Sora protested.

"Fine, there probably aren't any anyway."

"I don't think any keyholes will be in shops," Sora decided. "There could be! We have to check everywhere!" Donald huffed knowing Sora's nature to deduct important things.

"We can check the castle as soon as we meet up with the others so yes, that's a good idea..."

"Alright fine. Which one should we check first?"

"Lady Rhea! Over here, over here!" a voice known as Merlinus' called from their side.

"How bout that one?" she suggested.

"Okay…" _I guess._ was all that Sora thought.

They walked over to the cheery merchant. "So...what's going on Merlinus?" Rhea asked. Merlinus couldn't help but stare at Donald.

"Why's this duck following you? And....why does it have clothes on?!?"

"Hey!" Donald yelled jumping up and down in anger, the stares from by passers was enough. "He's my friend," Sora explained, "He came here the same way I did."

"Did your friend turn into a duck?"

"He IS a duck."

"Huh, how very strange..."

"So what exactly did you want Merlinus?" Rhea asked before Donald could retaliate. "Ah yes! I got some new items in that I thought you might want to-" Merlinus started.

"No thanks Merlinus."

"But why not?!?"

"Let's check it out at least Rhea." Sora said.

"Oh fine..."

"Splendid! Now feast your eyes on this!!"

He held up a uniquely designed staff. "Wow look at that!" Donald stated. "That's cool! Where did you get it?" Sora dared to ask.

"I've been receiving items from collectors all over Elibe! This one came from Bern!"

"It's very nice Merlinus, but-" Rhea started.

"This also came in!"

He showed them a finely crafted shield.

"Whoa! Goofy would love that!"

"Goofy?" Merlinus asked curiously, "Another friend of yours?"

"He's a dog!" Sora replied cheerfully as Goofy was the closest thing to Fido.

"So your friends are a duck...AND a dog....???"

"Yeah. Hey Rhea, do you think we can get these? Donald and Goofy can fight too!" Sora said. "I suppose they'd be useful to have..." she said.

"I couldn't agree more! Would you like a nice new dagger with that too Rhea? This one came from-" "Just the staff and shield please."

"With pleasure!"

"Thanks Rhea!" Donald said.

"Yeah thanks!" Sora exclaimed.

Rhea smiled. "It's no problem."

* * *

"Where should we start guys?" Kairi asked as her group walked around. "At a bakery maybe?" Riku suggested.

"A keyhole at a bakery?"

Riku's stomach growled.

"I think he wants to go get some food," Goofy deducted. "Oh fine. You're such a baby!" Kairi teased. "I can't help it if my bodily organs are empty," Riku protested. "Right, right," Kairi said making a mental note that Riku got as whiny as Sora when hungry. "Here's a bakery, c'mon," she said while walking inside.

Riku frowned a little. "What's the matter Riku?" Goofy asked.

"...There's no cheesecake...."

"I'm sorry Riku but at this point there's practically no anything!" Kairi joked. But it was almost true. The time they were in didn't even have radios or TVs.

"Well gawrsh, at least they HAVE something! It's better than nothing! Ahyuck!"

"Yeah you're right...Ok Kairi, pick something."

"How about some dumplings? They look good!"

"Sounds good to me!" Goofy exclaimed. Riku nodded.

Kairi walked up to the counter, "Excuse me I'll take 3 dumplings!"

"900 gold," the baker said.

_Good thing Rhea gave us some money, _Riku thought as he handed the baker the gold. Kairi watched as the baker took his time giving them their dumplings.

"Oh wow it smells so nice!"

"Gawrsh, it sure does! Ahyuck!" Goofy agreed. The baker stared at Goofy. "Uh....." Kairi decided it was best to make up a story then to tell the truth in this case, "Oh don't worry about him! You see he's been cursed but he's slowly healing!"

"......If you say so then...here ya go."

Riku took the dumplings, "Thanks."

"Buh-bye now!" Goofy waved at the baker.

"Only a moron would have told the truth, right Riku? I mean..." Kairi said trying to figure out if she did the wisest thing, while walking out. "It's not like he would've understood anyway," Riku replied.

* * *

"People stare too much," Sora grumbled at his team as the time flew by. Everywhere they went there was neither keyhole nor polite people. "We're almost done Sora," Donald pointed out.

"Right, just a few more shops and-"

"RHEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"

"Hello Serra."

"Oh no," Sora muttered as Serra made her way to the group.

"Having any luck finding that 'door'?" Serra asked. "No! Hopefully Riku, Kairi and Goofy founnd it," Sora complained.

"Hmmm, well that won't do! Erk! Help them find the door!"

"We are Serra. Lord Hector's orders?"

"....I don't remember that..."

"So then Lord Hector asked you guys to help us?" Rhea asked. "Yes. Most of the others are searching around town and Lord Hector himself is searching the Castle," Erk said. "What!? Sora said amazed. Even though it seemed as if Hector didn't trust them he was glad they weren't the only ones searching.

"This should be a breeze then!"

"Indeed," Rhea agreed. "But I thought we could go shopping Erky!" Serra complained.

"No. And don't call me that."

"Ah, you're so boring!" Serra then took Rhea's hand, "We can go shopping right?"

"After we finish looking for the door," Rhea responded, "this is a priority above all else."

"So dutiful...booooring!"

Sora couldn't help but to agree with Serra in his mind. "Don't worry, a few more minutes and both teams will stop the search. You can go shopping then." he encouraged. "Yaaay! See Erk? He's more fun! Jealous?"

"..."

With Serra and Erk in the party, things went by pretty fast; before anyone knew it, it was late. "I can't believe we didn't find it..." Sora said disappointed. "Don't give up yet Sora!" Serra said, "This is just the beginning!...But we're gonna go shopping now so see ya!"

Rhea sighed as Serra left dragging poor Erk along.

"I swear..."

"If this is the beginning, how come it feels like the end?" Sora asked.

"Don't worry Sora, that girl can't be THAT hasty," Donald assured. "Sora! Rhea! Donald!" a familiar feminine voice yelled after them."You guys!" Sora yelled back happily as Kairi's team ran over to them. "Please tell me you found it!" he asked desperately. "Uh...no," Riku simply replied. "But we did get dumplings!" Goofy added. Sora felt his eye slightly twitch. "Be we were definitely searchin' for it!" Goofy protested.

"What's wrong with you!? Everybody's searching hard and you guys get dumplings!?" The annoyance and hunger was taking a toll of Sora's head.

"You know how Riku gets Sora!" Kairi protested trying to calm Sora down."Oh! So now this is because Princess Riku needs food!"

"I wouldn't have had to get as much if SOMEONE didn't keep stealing fruit from me!"

"So!" Sora snapped right after, "You ATE didn't you?!"

"Not enough!"

"KNOCK IT OFF!"

The whole group stared at Rhea after she raised her voice. "It's obvious that we're.... frustrated that we couldn't find anything, so maybe we should just return to the castle and try again tomorrow." She said. "Right..." Sora muttered looking away from Riku, "Maybe the others had better luck at the castle anyway."

Which was proven wrong. "None of you found anything!?" Sora asked in disbelief. "Well a huge keyhole isn't common after all," Kent remarked. "It is possible the morph was lying to us though," Hector suggested. "Then why would they hostage everybody like this?" Kairi asked. "Maybe it's not the keyhole we're supposed to be searching for…" Sora said in a whispered tone. "Then what is it?" Goofy asked quietly. "Maybe," Sora stated out loud, "Maybe we need to find something important to this town or something!" "Well that would mean that..." Rhea started.

The whole group looked at Hector.

"What? You think I'M the keyhole? You're all crazy."

"Ah, no, I was thinking along the lines of 'what's most important in Ostia?'"

"That would be me."

"....This isn't going very well..."

"You're so full of it," Lyn stated, "Don't you think a item would make more sense?"

"...It might."

"But exactly what item would that be?" Rhea wondered. Hector looked back at his Wolf Beil. "I don't think it's your axe Hector," Eliwood said. "Yes," Lyn agreed. "C'mon! There has to be something!" Sora argued.

"I seriously don't think there's anything here," Hector started. "...But...there may be something...somewhere else..." Eliwood continued. "But the keyblades would have reacted if we were near the item," Kairi reminded. "But still some of the groups didn't have keyblades!" Donald countered. "So we have to search again?" Sora asked. "Looks like it," Riku said with a sigh, "what a drag." "Aw cheer up!" Goofy said, "Sooner or later, we're gonna find SOMETHING, ahyuck!"

"I feel kinda pressured thanks to that morph girl though..." Kairi said quietly.

"Right...she could either be telling the truth, or we're all just falling into her trap..." Riku said. "What kind of trap?" Kairi asked curiously. "Well, isn't she trying to revive this Lord Nergal person? She might be using us to accomplish her selfish little goals," Riku explained.

"We can never be certain...." Kairi admitted.

"Why don't we try asking that little girl?" Sora resolved yawning.

"But how are we supposed to find her?" Goofy asked. "She'll probably be around the morph girl, so she'll find us eventually," Rhea said. Hector let out a long, extremely loud sigh.

"At any rate, it's getting late and-" he started.

"I'm hungry!" Serra complained. "No one cares Serra," Erk quietly said. "ANYWAY, we probably should get our dinner, then rest. We leave first thing in the morning!" Hector continued. "Um, forgetting about someone Hector?" Eliwood suggested referring to Sora's group. "It's alright. We all know Hector could care less if we got ran over by horses behind his back," Sora said as if Hector only had a one track mind. "That's LORD Hector to you, boy!" Hector bellowed. "Fine," Sora said sighing, "LORD Hector!"

Rhea put her hand to her head and sighed. "At any rate, there isn't much we can really do now. It's late, and we're all tired, so why don't we just take Lord Hector's advice?" she said. "Yeah! It's dinnertime!" Serra chimed. "That sounds good to me!" Kairi said, "I'll let you have my dessert Sora."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I feel guilty about earlier."

"I don't," Riku muttered looking away.

"You can have mine too, ahyuck!"

"Really!?" Sora said eyes almost gleaming. "I have the bestest friends!" he announced leaving out Riku in his mind. "Great great, with that settled let's go eat!" Serra was rather pleasant; aside from the Elibe group asking Sora's group more odd questions. "Can we talk about another subject!?" Donald said loudly after someone asked him about being a duck. "Hey Rhea! You can show the others the staff and shield you got!" Sora inquired.

"Oh right! Almost forgot," Rhea said retrieving the mentioned items. The rest gazed in awe. "Wherever did you FIND those?" Eliwood asked.

"Ah...Merlinus had them..."

"And they're for us right!?" Donald asked in disbelief.

"Ahhh...uh huh..."

"Well gee, that's awful nice of ya Rhea! Ahyuck!" Goofy said. Rhea shook her head.

"Think nothing of it."

"That's so nice Rhea! Even by yourself you're considerate," Kairi said while smiling. "Yes, Rhea's always been like that," Lyn pointed out remembering memories. Rhea blushed a little.

"R-really! It's nothing!"

"Aw! You're blushing!" Rebecca pointed out. Rhea turned her head away.

"Are not!"

"She's so humble, not taking the compliment like normal women!" Sain pointed out to embarrass her further.

"Thank you Sain," Rhea said twitching. "And you've become very beautiful," Rebecca admitted.

She turned her head to hide her blushing again.

"H-have not..."

"I believe so," Sain inquired, "When we first met you your hair was in that boyish haircut and you spoke as if you were a trained male solider!"

"A soldier? I thought it was more like a mouse!" Hector teased. "Yeah, and the only way we could tell you were a girl was by the skirt!" Matthew added. "Thanks guys..." Rhea said sarcastically.

"It's ok Rhea. When Kairi was younger she had a boyish haircut too," Sora said trying to make her feel better. "Oh yeah, I remember that. The day she got all her hair hacked off freaked us out!" Riku added. "You guys," Kairi said as her face went as red as her hair, "I thought it was pretty..."

"Ahyuck! I'm sure they're just joking!"

"Thanks Goofy..."

"No problem ahyuck!"

"Why can't you guys be that nice?" Kairi asked as she scolded Riku and Sora. "Nice is a state of mind," Riku said quietly trying to ignore the glares he received from the redhead.

Rhea sighed in relief as the attention was drawn away from her. After her companions' comments she couldn't help but think to herself: Had she really changed that much? Sure, back then her hair was a little shorter and she could fight now, but... _Beautiful? Me? Ridiculous..._ She took a sip from her cup as the group continued to feast.

Soon enough the group finished their meal and went off to their rooms for a good night's rest. Rhea, left with thoughts in her head, not only about the dinner conversation but the conversation about the keyhole.

It followed her right in the next morning. As she approached Sora's room she continued to talk quietly to herself. "Special doors...that only the keyblade can open...keyblade...What in the world does this all mean?" "It's confusing to you?" a voice asked from behind.

"Ah!" Rhea was so deep in thought she nearly jumped in surprise. She looked behind her. There was no one other than Kairi looking as buoyant as ever. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you! Aha..." she laughed shortly after, slightly embarrassed. "Oh! Kairi...good morning," Rhea said collecting herself again.

"I overheard you questioning yourself and thought I could help!"

"Oh yeah, I was just a little confused about what happened yesterday...what with the 'special doors' and all..."

"What's so confusing?" Kairi said trying to break down things in her head to better explain them. "Well, how are these doors 'special'?"

"They're said to be connected to the worlds. Only the keyblade can open it."

"Connected to the worlds...And these keyblades are what you, Sora and Riku have right?"

"Right!" Kairi said nodding wondering to herself whether everyone else got this.

"I think I understand now," Rhea said nodding. _Connected to the worlds..._

"Were you going to see Sora?"

"Oh yeah, I was going to make sure he was up. The rest are pretty much ready to go after we pick your clothes anyway."

Kairi smiled at the comment. "I'll get him! The sooner the clothes the better!" she decided out of nowhere while running to Sora's room.

* * *

Riku woke up to the sound of snoring in the bed next to his. He groaned and tried to cover his ear with his pillow but to no avail. _Count on Sora to be your personal alarm clock..._Riku thought. He then threw the pillow at him, "Hey!" "Ah!" Sora said flailing around in his bed until he looked at Riku.

"Huh?"

"It's time to get up, sleepyhead," Riku said yawning.

"You don't know that! I don't see a digital clock anywhere."

"I'm PRETTY sure those haven't been invented yet."

"Then I'm sleeping 'til they make one!" Sora decided while laying back down on his bed with a soft landing.

"Hey! No way you're going back to sleep if you're just gonna snore!" Riku protested. "I snore very softly" Sora protested back.

"Your snoring sounds like ten blenders!"

"Ten soft blenders," Sora corrected for the fun of it.

"More like ten soft blenders getting SMASHED TO PIECES with a hammer!"

"And then singing a heavenly ballad!"

Unwilling to continue this pointless fight, Riku threw his other pillow. "Just get up." Sora complied as soon as he heard a knock on the door. "Riku? Sora?" a familiar voice asked. "That enough of a wake up call for ya?" Riku said. "Kairi?!" Sora asked ignoring Riku. "Who else would it be?!" Riku said getting out of bed.

Before Kairi even made it to their door she already heard their little spat. "Do you guys ever grow up?" Kairi giggled behind the door. Riku slowly walked to the door and opened it just a crack.

"Yeeeees? Can I help you?"

"I'm here to deliver a message to Mr. Sky and Mr. Land."

"...Oh really? And this message is?"

"Why don't you guess?" Kairi said smugly.

Sora could have sworn he felt his vein pop out of his head. He took the nearest pillow and threw it at the back of Riku's head. "Stop flirting!" He said happily while running past Riku and Kairi and out of the room. "S-sora!" Kairi yelled after him shocked. "Ouch!" Riku cried as his head banged against the door from the impact of the pillow. He rubbed his head lazily. "That little twerp."

"Are you ok? I swear, you guys haven't changed at all!" Kairi noted while shaking her head, "You'd think at least a year would help you two grow up!" "You mean him right? I'm perfectly grown up," Riku said confidently.

"Sure, but that all goes out the window when you two are together." she confirmed. "By yourself it's like you belong in a host club, with Sora it's like you belong in a playhouse Disney club!"

Resisting the urge to comment, Riku quickly changed the subject. "Yeah, maybe you should go follow Sora before he gets himself lost. I'll meet up with you in a sec." "That's true, see you!" Kairi said happily as if she didn't say her other statement and walked away to find Sora. Despite her teasing she was truly happy to be back with her boys.

* * *

Rhea strolled along the long, regal halls of Castle Ostia. Everyone was still in the main hall, properly prepared and ready to venture out, except for a certain trio. _I know he'd probably oversleep but BOTH OF THEM! Just how lazy could you be?!?_ she thought to herself.

"Rhea!" A familiar voice called out to her. She didn't even have to look to see who it was, she already knew by now who the voice's owner was. "Good morning sleepyhead," Rhea said calmly as Sora approached, "Did you sleep well? I see you remembered to leave the room with all your clothes on today." "That was an accident!" Sora insisted, his face getting red.

Rhea stifled back a laugh. "We all know that, Sora. It's a thing of the past now." "Then don't bring it up in the present!" he replied back practically whining; that time was too embarrassing. He was lucky enough to forget it for a while. "Fine, I apologize." She quickly changed the subject. "So where are Kairi and Riku? Everyone else is already ready and waiting for you guys."

Another annoying subject. "I don't know," he muttered, probably out flirting somewhere is what he wanted to say but that was his jealousy getting the better of him. He didn't want to be that kind of person to his two best friends, and Rhea wouldn't understand with friends like Hector and Serra.

"Ok, well you should go get breakfast then while we wait for them," Rhea suggested. Sora's mood automatically lightened up. "Do we get that chicken stuff again!?"

"Um, no that was dinner remember? There is oatmeal, fruit, rolls, and things upon that nature though."

Sora frowned, then looked shocked. "You guys have oatmeal here too?" Rhea gave him a confused look. "Why wouldn't we? It's just oats and hot water or milk. Unless you prefer gruel?"

"No...Hey do you guys have pancakes?"

"Pancakes?...No I'm afraid not.."

"Geez, I really am in the boring times."

"....I was kidding..."

Sora was silent for a moment. "You were being sarcastic?!?" He would never get Rhea's pattern of teasing, unlike Kairi's. "Of course! We may not be as 'advanced' as wherever you're from, but this isn't the Stone Age!" I_t isn't?_ Sora thought to himself. He then smiled, "I'll get pancakes then."

Before Rhea could answer him a finger tapped on Sora's shoulder. "What are you two up to?" Kairi asked, all smiles. "Oh! You're back Kairi! But then...where's Riku?" Rhea asked. "Oh! He said he'd catch up to us in a bit!" Kairi responded.

Sora groaned. That Riku. Always has to keep everyone waiting for him. Some things will never change. "Ah, there you are Riku," Rhea said as he quietly approached, "You're all here now, so you should hurry and get breakfast so we can leave."

"Kairi! Riku! They got pancakes!" Sora exclaimed as if he discovered gold. "...You're kidding, right?" Riku asked sluggishly. "No, Rhea said so!""....FINALLY, something good about this world!"Rhea crossed her arms. "Is our world just that inferior to yours?" The otherworldly trio just stared at Rhea for a moment, then went back to being loud. "And they got oatmeal too!" "Sora" Kairi started. "It's just oats and water or milk." "Like I said, this isn't the Stone Age." "It isn't?" Riku asked. Rhea rolled her eyes.

Rhea had instructed them to the area they would be having breakfast at; it didn't take them long to bask in whatever was left on the table. "Where are we supposed to be going again?" Sora asked just happy to have his friends back.

Rhea sighed. "I can't believe you forgot already!" "Yeah seriously dude, with the way Kairi was all squeals yesterday?" Riku chimed in. Kairi huffed, "You guys just don't know how important clothes are!" "Boys will be boys I guess," Rhea admitted crossing her arms.

"So we're going shopping?" Sora concluded. "Basically, then we're heading out," Rhea explained. "That's great! Maybe we'll find a way home!"

"That doesn't happen until AFTER we find all those other doors, remember?" Riku reminded. "I know! I'm just trying to make it seem easier." "Anyway, we'd better hurry and pick up your new clothes so we can go," Rhea said. The others complied following Rhea to their next destination.

Soon enough, they met up with the others who were, for the most part, waiting patiently in the main hall."Here they come! Ahyuk!" Goofy announced as they approached. "That's just like them to keep us all waiting!" Donald groaned. "Oh THERE you guys are!" Serra whined, "I was worried that maybe those heartless things had eaten you all!"

"We're not that weak," Kairi informed. "We're aware of that!" she responded playfully sticking out her tongue. "Enough!" Hector barked, "The three foreigners plus their…friends are here, can we go?" "Foreigners?" Sora muttered lowly. "Well you're not from here, now are you?"

"But if anybody's foreign it's you guys, I'm still trying to get used to the weird stares!"

"But you're in MY land, boy! That makes YOU the foreign one!"

Sora looked at Kairi and Riku for defense but they just stood there staring at the situation. "Fine then. But that doesn't make us weird!"

"Well of course being foreign doesn't make you weird- you're weird because you're weird!"

"Ok enough!" Eliwood stepped in, "Hector, you're going a little too far."

"Just having fun, geez," Hector muttered.

"I'd have more fun if we could fit in more," Kairi admitted. "The fashion here is interesting after all!" she noted looking at all of the girls' outfits. "Exactly!" Serra giggled and spun around, showing off her dress. "Your clothes are interesting, if not weird, but now you'll be as cute as the rest of us girls! Just don't be cuter than me!" she winked."She holds a valid point!" Sain chimed in, "We can add you into our army of beauties! We have our quiet beauties, Rhea, Ninian, and Florina, our scary beauty Lyn, and our fun beauties Rebecca and Serra!"

The "army of beauties" stared at Sain for making his comment. Sora crossed his arms. "Kairi's not a good fighter though- ow! What?" Sora asked as he got pinched by Kairi.

"Well neither is Rhea-OW!" Hector started before being nudged in the side. "What was that for Lyn?!?"

Lyn sighed at Hector and his slightly more polite spiky haired clone. "Enough talk, let's head out now before more slip-of-the-tongues happen," she resolved.

"Thank you," both Rhea and Riku said in unison. "Finally!" Donald exclaimed. "Yay! Let's hurry to the tailor!" Serra they approached the tailor, the rest of the group stayed behind leaving Rhea, Sora, Kairi, Riku, Donald and Goofy to enter. "Just make sure to come out quickly!" Serra insisted. _This is like the mall to Kairi_ Sora thought to himself. Knowing that he didn't feel like coming out quickly was an option, but he kept that to himself in fear of getting he and his group stepped inside they were presented by a dainty yet cozy tailor shop. Counters adorned with colorful yarn and ribbons and threads, and glazed wooden floors to compliment the furry rugs. "Hello?" Sora asked.

A cheery attendant immediately rushed to the counter. "Hello! How can I help you?....Oh! You guys came in here yesterday! Your outfits are all ready!" "Really!?" Kairi asked as cheerful as the attendant. "Yes yes! All of you please follow me to the back!"She led the group to the back of the shop where completed outfits lay neatly folded or hung up. Several fitting rooms draped with flowing, colorful curtains were also lined within.

Kairi turned to face Sora and Riku. "Let's go all at the same time so we can amaze each other, and then save the best for last, the rest!" "Yeah, sure," Riku mumbled indifferently.

Sora, who was already attached to the clothes on his back moped slightly yet agreed. They had all gotten into their stations taking their time. Rhea, Donald and Goofy waited patiently outside the waiting rooms until someone decided to come out.

"Anybody ready?" "Kairi, that's like the 3rd time you've asked, give us some time!" "Guys are supposed to be fast when it comes to dressing unlike girls. What's the problem?" Kairi insisted. "These clothes are weird! That's what's the problem!" Riku complained.

While the trio were in their changing rooms, the attendant kept glancing over at Donald and Goofy. Donald tried his best not to notice, but easily got irritated. "Got a problem?" he asked. "Ack!" The attendant squeaked. "Donald!" Rhea said. "Oops." "Gawrsh Donald, ya didn't have to be so mean!" Goofy said. "Uh…we're sorry," Rhea uttered.

The attendant continued to stare. "…But-" "Just think of us as wearing really weird costumes!" Goofy assured. "Is that what you're doing?" The three looked at each other and said in unison, "Absolutely!"

"Cool! I got a cape!" Sora piped up, "What'd you get Riku?" "....A top that's too short..."

"Maybe it's Kairi's..." "No, I have a dress..."

"You guys can come out any time now!" Rhea called. "We're wasting time!" Donald noted. "Ok guys, ready?" Kairi asked. Sora and Riku stayed silent but she decided it was probably because they didn't like their clothes. Riku more than Sora though. "Ta-Da!" she said as all 3 of them came out.

"Wow!" Donald exclaimed. "Gawrsh!" Goofy said.

"Ooooooh, you all look great!" the shop attendant nodded in agreement. "Indeed you do." Sora couldn't agree more until he looked at Riku's outfit and couldn't help but laugh.

"Stop laughing darnit! It's better than wearing those silly short shorts!"

"What silly short shorts!?"

"Those that you're wearing! And what up with the headband? Trying to pull off the 'macho' look?" Riku said with a smirk.

Sora frowned in response. "No! Mr. Tellitubby!" "Guys cut it out!" Kairi insisted. "I think they match us all!" "Seriously!" Rhea agreed, "Now stop fighting! We still have places to go!""Yeah your right..." Sora said not satisfied. "Hmph," was Riku's sighed and turned to the attendant, "Anyway, thank you very much for this." She handed her money. "Here you are." "Oh no problem! It took all of our tailors all night for 3 outfits, but it was fun working on them! Also...what shall I do with the clothes that they came here with? Shall I dispose of them?"

"NO!" all three of them yelled in unison.

"W-we'll just hang on to them, thanks," Rhea said. "Very well!" She picked up the clothes and handed them to Riku. "Well then, I hope you all have a safe journey!" "Thanks!" Sora said while facing Rhea, "Alright lead the way!" "Very well, let's go!" Rhea said leading them back to the outside, the rest of the group were eagerly, and impatiently in some cases, waiting for them to arrive. "Ah, here they come." Lyn announced as she saw the entrance door creak open slightly. Rhea stepped out , who was eyeing a necklace in the window perked up. "Weeell?" "How do they look?" Hector asked. "Not that I care." "Someone come out already!" Serra whined, "I'm dying from the waiting!""Ladies first," Riku offered to Sora and Kairi. "Wow, very polite of you Riku!" Kairi said shocked. Sora huffed; Why was it always like this? "I'll open the door for you!" he insisted. Kairi was shocked once again. "Thank you..." She stepped out to face her new party members. "How do I look?"

Everyone gazed in awe at the regal presence of the red-head girl. "Oh my, Kairi, you look so cute!" Serra exclaimed. "Indeed! I couldn't agree more!" said Sain. Kairi couldn't help but to smile. She really did feel like a princess in her clothes, down to the petite and cute dress to the silk ribbon holding up her hair. "Sora, Riku! You guys come out too!"

"You first," Riku said. "I'm not a girl," Sora insisted, still upset. "Yeah, that's great- SHOVE!" Riku grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him out the door.

Sora was shocked with the reality that now he was next to Kairi in plain view of the rest; there was no time to act embarrassed on his part. "Oooh Sora, don't we look nice and heroic?" Serra said with a wink. "Heroic?" "Yes," Lyn answered, "The outfit suits you."

All that was left was Riku. "C'mon Riku!" Serra tempted, "Don't make me pull you out of there myself!"He sighed. Folding his arms behind his head, he casually walked outside to face the others. Everyone became silent while staring at Riku. _Ha Riku! I hope they all laugh at you!_ Sora thought deviously. "Well well now," Hector started. "Wow," was the only thing Serra could say, which was in its own way very surprising.

"See Riku!" Sora yelled happy. "Riku, you look amazing!" she said finally. Sora face froze at the comment. "HUH?" "It's about time he started looking like a man and not a boy." _But he IS a boy!_ Sora protested in his mind, there's no way the blue giant would have heard him anyways.

"Heh." Riku crossed his arms and smirked, knowing that Sora was upset about the compliment.

But on the contrary Sora just glanced at Riku then Kairi. "What's wrong Sora?" Rebecca asked. "N-nothing. the clothes are comfy!" "Not only that, they look great!" Wil agreed cheerfully, "Right Florina?" Florina bashfully hid behind Lyn and nodded.

_Does she ever talk?_ Sora couldn't help but to wonder. "Now that our guests are properly dressed, let's head out." "FINALLY!" Wil and Matthew both yelled. "Alright then," Eliwood announced, "Let's move out!"As the group began to walk, Erk noticed Serra with her face plastered to the tailor window yet again. "Serra, what on earth are you doing? We're leaving now," he said. "But Erky!" she whined, "That necklace! It's so...gorgeous!"Rhea turned around. "Serra, we're not buying it." Kairi couldn't help but to be curious. "Which necklace Serra?" "That one there! With the pretty green jewel!" she pointed.

"Serra I told you, it's called peridot, I doubt it's cheap," Rebecca reminded. "Why? How much is it?" Kairi asked. "Awww, 20,000 gold pieces! That's waaay too much!" Serra continued to , Florina, and Ninian soon walked over. "That's too bad," Ninian said quietly. "It is really pretty," Florina said more quietly."Oh great, now ALL the girls are over there," Hector groaned. "I think it's a good thing, for Sain I mean," Kent added. "Who is now over there as well," Matthew added pointed back at the window. "W-what!?" Kent turned his head to see Sain with the girls. "Sain get back over here, you're not interested in jewelry!" "Well of course not Kent!" Sain cheerfully called back to him, "I'm interested in something far more lovely. Or dare I say, somethings?""Oooh Sain, you're so silly!" Serra giggled. "What's the hold up? It's just a necklace." Hector spoke up tired of waiting. "You wouldn't understand." Rebecca explained. "There's just something about it....""I have to agree," Lyn added. Hector could only sigh as even Lyn was enchanted by such a simple necklace. Were all women this way? Sora saw the situation at hand and thought of an idea. "Hey Riku." "Yeah, what?" "I bet your fancy new look can't get us that necklace." It was definitely a challenge proposal. "I bet it couldn't either, cause I'm not doing it."

"You're no fun." Sora then faced Donald and Goofy. "If everybody is so intent on getting the thing maybe we should try to. Right?" Sora asked folding his arms behind his head

"Sounds like you've got an idea, ahyuck!" Goofy said. "No Sora!" Donald quacked. "We don't have time for a necklace. We should be hurrying to get back home!""I say listen to the duck," Riku suggested, "Someone grab the females and let's VAMOOSE!"

This averted all the female's attention from the necklace to Riku. Riku merely looked away indifferently. "Sora, you need to stop saying things like that. It's rude." "Huh??" Sora said bewildered. Lyn sighed. "Riku, if you'd just look at it for at least a second..." "Ugh, fine."Riku casually walked over to the female members of their group, plus Sain, and glanced at the necklace. "Hmmm..." "Well?" Serra said. "Do you sense it too Riku?" Kairi had to know.

He intently continued to stare at the necklace with intrigue. "...I think so." He then waved at Sora. "Hey Sora, c'mere a second!" Sora quietly walked over with Donald and Goofy. "What?" Riku pointed to the necklace. "Take a look for yourself. Feel anything?"

"....."

"...."

"..."

"Sora?" Rebecca asked worried, there was no answer though, just Sora walking into the store which alarmed everyone and probably made the cashier happy seeing how they were in front of the window for the longest time. "Sora!"

All of the girls followed him in. "Greeeeat, more time to waste! This isn't a leisure trip people!" Hector barked at them. "That's what you're making it sound like!" Eliwood said jokingly, "Why not stay here in Ostia then?" "NO!"

The girls walked over to the sales clerk while Sora stared at the necklace directly across from Riku, Donald, and Goofy being separated by the glass window. "Argh! Just what is going on?!?" Hector demanded, clearly losing his temper. "Patience, Lord Hector!" Oswin assured.

"Ugh, traveling with younger people is bothersome!"

"No kidding," Marcus muttered under his breath.

"But Milord! You're not that much older than them!" Matthew laughed.

"Hmph."Back inside the shop, the group was greeted by the same shop clerk. "Welcome!....Ah, is there anything you need?""Um well..." Rebecca started but the only reason she came in was because Sora came in, she was sure it was the same for the rest. "Sora!" Lyn yelled getting everyone's, even the clerk's, attention to he stood, holding up the golden chain that carried the beautiful, heavy peridot stone. "This is...." "Yes, that is one of our more popular items! Just got it in from Bern! But...would you mind NOT touching it?""Sora? Is something wrong?" Rhea asked. Sora only ignored the clerk as he faced Rhea. "This is…just like before, I can feel it!"

With those words the item started glowing."Woah!" Rebecca exclaimed. "You should give a 75% discount for that creepy glowing display." Kairi stated to the clerk. "Wow! Just what's going on!?!" Serra said, "That light is too bright!"

Sora just smiled as the necklace floated into the air and the world just seemed to stop for him, even for a moment. Out of thin air he took out his keyblade at pointed it to the necklace...."Um...what happened?" Rebecca asked as the necklace was once again in Sora's hand, not glowing anymore. There was no way they saw Sora's display."Oh nothing!" Kairi replied knowing exactly what happened. "We'll explain later.!" Lyn blinked, all of the sudden the necklace just seemed....like another piece of jewelry to her. _How silly of me_ she thought to herself, _All jewelry is just another piece._ "I think we distracted ourselves enough..." she decided. "Wait a minute, what did you do to it?!?" the attendant demanded, "If you did something to it, you have to pay for it!"

"What are you talking about? All he did was touch it! You're the one demanding money for us because your necklace is cursed! C'mon guys, let's spend our money somewhere else." Kairi diverted. "Can we get something to eat?" Sora asked not getting the point.

"Um....what now?" Florina asked quietly. "I think we just leave," Rhea whispered back.

Kairi continued to talk to clerk down while the others slowly made their way out. "Sora, we saw that!" Donald exclaimed. "Yeah but, what does it mean...?" "I guess that means that another door has opened somewhere, ahyuck!" Goofy suggested. "Yeah, but where?" Riku asked.

Sora turned to Rhea, hoping in his mind that she had an answer. Rhea smiled. As always, someone was looking to her for answers. However, for once she actually didn't have one. She bit her lip."Well, the morph girl said that doors have opened near places where we've traveled to right? What's the closest location to Ostia of that sort?" "Well there's a wide range of places," Lyn informed, "perhaps Nabata?" "Oh please," Hector interrupted, "How do we know to trust that morph!? I am not blindly going to walk into a trap! Forget it!"

"Well then what exactly are we supposed to do?" Eliwood protested. "It might just be the best chance we have..." Rhea chimed in. "Hector you're being difficult," was the complaint Lyn gave when she saw how exactly Rhea and Eliwood felt about the situation. "Like I care, I can't be the only one who's suspicious, you guys are just being careless!"Sora rolled his eyes, another lord to lord fight. For a moment it felt like his mind went hazy, and his eyes almost rolled to the back of his head. Unable to support his feet he felt himself leaning towards the glass window. "Sora?" Donald wanted to look at Donald but his eyes wouldn't let him, his mind showed him something completely different from the scene before him, it showed him an imagine of a huge castle, it reminded him of a fortress."Sora!" Kairi demanded shaking him by his elbow, he looked so out of it, even the lordlings stopped fighting to stare. "What's up with the brat?" Hector asked. "Hey! Get a hold of yourself, Sora!" Riku said as he grabbed his shoulder to keep him from falling over."Oh no, he's dying!" Serra cried. "Serra, not right now," Erk said. "Maybe he's sick..." Rebecca pointed out. "How can he get sick? He was just fine a moment ago," Kent reminded. "Sora?" Kairi asked as she saw signs of him turning back to normal.

"That was weird...I saw something," he said rubbing his eyes. "Your own death?" Hector asked.

"Golly Sora, ya sure had us worried!" Goofy said. "What did you mean by...you 'saw something?'" Rhea asked, relieved that the spiky-haired boy was alright. "Sorry," Sora explained, "It was weird, I saw some huge castle, don't know why..." "A huge castle...was there anything around it that was of any significance?""Nothing but mountains..." "Hey, doesn't that sound like Bern?" Rebecca asked openly.

"Oh, don't tell me we have to go there again," Hector grumbled. "Why, what's wrong with Bern?" Kairi was curious. "Let's just say we've gone through a few...challenges here and there, while in Bern," Eliwood noted. "He has a point," Rhea stated, "At least we won't have to go trying to get the Fire Emblem again..." "Fire Emblem?" "The Royal family heirloom of Bern," Eliwood explained, "It was used for the Prince's coming of age ceremony.""Did he get it?" Sora asked. "No duh Sora!" Donald snapped back annoyed. "But Bern is pretty far from here," Matthew noted. "I'm thinking we're going to have to endure that," Hector said, "Right, Lady Rhea?"Knowing she was being mocked, Rhea smiled deviously. "Yes, we do in fact, Lord Hector." Kairi and Riku looked at each other as they sensed tension. "Alright, the best thing to do is to head out as soon as possible," Kent nodded in agreement. He knew he asked for a little more adventure in his life while at home, but not a complete whole new adventure at another world leaving his mom behind without any could already imagine how Kairi and Riku's parents were acting. At least King Mickey knew something probably happened to Donald and Goofy. He just had to keep trying to find these doors so that his friends could go watched as everyone started following the lordlings to the way to the entrance and said to Riku. "Another adventure..." "Looks like it...but hey-" Riku clapped him on the shoulder. "At least we're in this one together right?"

"Maybe..." Sora said carelessly walking ahead on cue making Kairi laugh.

"Least they're in high spirits," Hector grumbled. "They're going to have to be," Eliwood said, "Who knows long it'll be until they can actually get back to their world?" "Even now all of this is kind of hard to believe," Lyn admitted, "I can't help but to wonder if the rest feel the same...""But it's good to know they were all willing to help right?" Rhea chimed in.

"Huh? Who said that?" Hector teased. Lyn shook her head at Hector's childish state. "It is very kind of them.""Even YOU volunteered Hector!" Eliwood laughed, "Now THAT was a surprise!" "I just didn't want to stay in Ostia while the rest of you were off on some grand adventure without me."

"Honestly Hector, I can't tell whether Ostia would manage fine with or without you." Lyn muttered.

As the three lords plus the tactician began to laugh at this comment, Rhea looked back at rest of their party, then to Sora and his group who were busy having themselves a good laugh as smiled. Even though she had no idea how in the world they would make it back to their world, or even how long it would take, she knew they would all get back to their own world safely._Hmm, I have a lot to write in my journal today…_ She took the small book from her sack. _Better get started on that! Dear Log..._

* * *

Ok that's it for now everyone! Thanks so much for reading, and please make sure to R&R! We appreciate all feedback and please look forward to the next chapter. Later!


	8. Chapter 7: The Search Begins

Hello everyone! Been a while, I know, but don't worry! Iori and I have been working very hard to bring you another exciting chapter of Beyond Distant Worlds(That is, when school and college aren't killing us)! So without anymore rambling on from me, let's get this show on the road!

Disclaimer: We(as in Iori and I, not the voices in my head) do not own Fire Emblem, OR Kingdom Hearts. They belong to their rightful and respective owners and such. K let's go!!

* * *

A thick fog emanated off the shores of Valor. Through the thick, unsettling forest, past the abandoned relics, the Dragons Gate lay hidden within the veil of mist.

Irene strode down the halls of the building not built by man. Having successfully manipulating her "father's" murderers into believing her words, she now had to report her progress to the leader of the Heartless.

Though eager to reach what was now, only temporarily though, known as Maleficent's "lair", she was also irritated by the small, blue-haired child who was walking so closely behind her, that she actually managed to step on her heels a few times. Not only that, every few minutes or so, Lucretia even had the nerve to speak, every single word that managed to escape her lips more annoying than the last.

"What is a lair?" Lucretia curiously asked while following close behind her companion, naive of the thoughts going through her head. "I told you, already, it's like a base!" Irene grumbled, while trying to walk faster, hoping that the little girl couldn't keep up and would be lost within the dark, chilling halls.

Lucretia never did get the hint and only sped up, then with her tiny body, she started to cling to Irene's leg.

"A base for what?"

"Gah!"

Lucretia's sudden action caused them both to topple down to the cold, stone floor. Irene scowled and began to tap her finger on the ground, waiting for the girl to get off of her.

"The floor is cold…"

"OFF. NOW."

"Are you upset?"

"Of course not."

"You're so red…." Lucretia pointed out.

Irene let her head drop to the floor. Could anyone BE more annoying? "Get. Off." she repeated. Lucretia without another sound did so. The morph girl quickly stood up and brushed herself off and continued walking at a quick pace, with Lucretia following. Lucretia was used to this by default. That hadn't stopped her from staying by Irene's side, even if they were in a cold-floored base.

"Why are we here?"

"Because I have to tell Maleficent something," Irene answered keeping her eyes set forward.

"Why?"

"That is none of your concern."

"..." Lucretia wanted to ask more questions but had been distracted by the layout of the "lair." _Has she FINALLY run out of questions?_ Irene wondered to herself. Smirking, she took advantage of the present silence until it lasted. Though a meek girl, Lucretia almost never held back when it came to curiosity. It had gotten the best of her when she remembered a question. "Who is Maleficent?"

Irene stopped dead in her tracks. "Maleficent is....well, I'm not really sure who she is, or what she is, but she's helping me get what I want."

"Is she your mommy?"

"....Yes, she is my mother..."

Lucretia gasped. "You....." she started getting Irene irritated, "Have two mommies?"

And at that moment, Irene completely lost it.

"NO, SHE IS NOT MY MOTHER! LORD NERGAL IS **NOT** MY MOTHER!! WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH YOU, DID YOU FALL ON YOUR HEAD OR SOMETHING BECAUSE YOU ARE REALLY STUPID!!!"

Lucretia, who had been standing there staring at the enraged Irene found tears forming at the corner of her eyes, despite the usual apathy her face was portraying.

"....."

Irene folded her arms. "Oh geez, now I have to deal with your crying?"

"..."

Lucretia just looked down as if it was a routine. She was used to getting yelled at, she found it better to put her head down to avoid getting hurt.

"Hmph, that's better. Now come on, Maleficent might get angry if I have her wait any longer."

Lucretia dully nodded her head following Irene.

The inner sanctum of the Dragon's Gate was even darker than the halls it took to get to it. Torches hung on the columns, creating patches of light here and there. This large space was mostly empty, except for the giant doors at the other end of the room.

Irene walked all the way back to the doors and stood there for a moment before calling out.

"Maleficent? Are you here?"

Lucretia looked around for the so called Maleficent, she was half expecting an old hag like in the storybooks her mother would read to her.

"Don't do anything stupid," Irene muttered to Lucretia, "She might turn you into one of those stupid Heartless things." Lucretia was surprised Irene was talking to her again, normally her father wouldn't talk to her after yelling for a day, but maybe it was because his lungs were tired.

"You're worried about me?"

"I'm more worried about Maleficent seeing that as unsatisfactory on my behalf since you're with me."

"Is she here?"

"She should be. She's probably trying to make some sort of 'gloomy and glamorous' entrance like she always does. I don't see why she always has to make me wait for her when-"

"SILENCE FOOL." said a strict voice, Lucretia's face stayed emotionless as Maleficent walked out from the shadows, betraying her real thoughts of obscurities. "I've been here the entire time…"

"Oh there you are, Maleficent," Irene said folding her arms, "For a second I thought maybe the Heartless might have gotten you..."

"Don't depend on it," Maleficent said sharply while making a face, "Did you do what I told you to do?"

"Why yes I have in fact," Irene said smugly, "The fools were quite deceived and are en route to Bern as we speak."

"Good, now-"

Maleficent stopped as her eyes caught the cowering child behind Irene.

"What is that monstrosity?"

"She is nothing. Ignore her."

"Lucretia…"

"Stop talking," Irene muttered.

"Okay…"

Maleficent couldn't help but to notice the sigh Irene emitted.

"Is this your pet?"

"Exactly. She's pretty useless, but she won't leave me alone otherwise."

"And you haven't resorted to...other means?" Maleficent asked curiously knowing Irene knew what she meant. "Hmm, well I haven't figured out which method would be best yet," Irene answered.

"I see…" Maleficent said not believing it at all. For her it was like having that damned Riku boy and his precious Kairi here all over again. That's the last thing she wanted. If anything she'd be the one to decide how this would work in her favor.

"Well that is all, feel free to do whatever until I call you again, leave me. I must plan."

"Tch, fine. Let's go."

Irene quickly spun around and began to charge out of the room before she noticed that Lucretia was still standing. "I said LET'S GO."

Lucretia was taken in by Maleficent's cold eyes staring at her, she decided she did not like this lady one bit. Maleficent forced a smile and stated.

"You should run along child, the short tempered one will leave you behind…"

Lucretia continued to stare for a while then turned back to run to Irene's side. _Odd child...._ Maleficent thought while watching. "Idiot," Irene muttered, "I TOLD you not to do anything stupid."

"I apologize."

"Whatever," Irene said as she continued walking.

* * *

"Gotcha...." whispered a young boy at the tender age of 15, clutching his huge heavy metal bow, he aimed towards the rodent in the tree. _This could be apart of dinner..._ he thought to himself.

A second boy, much taller than the first, at the age of 17, wandered around the forest until he spotted the younger one.

"Oh, there he is." He called out.

"HEY RYSEN!"

"A-AH!" yelled the boy called Rysen, the yells were too much for the squirrel who had scampered away.

"A-alden......my squirrel..."

"A squirrel?" The boy known as Alden walked up to him. "You were expecting us to eat a squirrel for dinner?"

"It's good meat, and if you don't eat it then we could always sell it."

"For 1 piece of gold, yeah, I don't think so. Maybe 100 squirrels."

"Alden...." was the pity reply back, "No wonder Dad says you're a bad influence, you're not being optimistic…"

"That's his job, not mine," Alden responded half-jokingly.

"Ok, today I'm going to get us a wolf no matter what, I won't come home until I do!"

"A wolf?! A wolf would eat YOU before you got so much as a chance to nibble a leg!" Alden joked.

Rysen's eyes widen when he considered the possibility. "But I...."

"It's ok, I wouldn't let a wolf do that to ya..."

"N-no, I don't want a wolf anymore...."

Alden laughed. "Would you prefer a bear?" He raised his hands to his ears. "Grrr!"

Rysen smiled at his brother's attempt to make him feel better, he was just being plain silly. "Only in winter."

"Alright fine, but let's see if we can get Father to wrestle with it first!"

Rysen could imagine that, their father was always the type into proving himself. He wanted the whole town to know he was a changed man. Rysen couldn't tell if that was a good thing or not though.

Before Rysen could answer his brother his eyes turned to a spot far from them.

"I...think I hear something..."

"What?"

They both remained completely motionless. Rysen was hoping in his mind it wasn't a wolf, he wasn't in any way mentally prepared for such a dangerous animal. Rysen then perked up when he thought he had heard a voice. Was somebody else actually in the woods too? "Who's there?" Rysen asked slightly more loud than his normal tone of voice."Did you guys hear that?" Rebecca asked hearing a voice in the distance. "Hear what?" asked Sain. "Just ignore it, it's probably some animal!" Hector roared who was up ahead with the other lords. "That was definitely a voice, Hector," Eliwood stated."Yay, a voice! Does that mean we're in Bern yet?" Serra asked. "We're a day or so away Serra, BE QUIET." Erk commanded. "Everyone please," Lyn pleaded trying to get a better hear. Donald couldn't help but to roll his eyes, traveling with these people was almost impossible. "I hear something ahead," Lyn started, "The voices definitely belong to people." "Oh good," Serra exclaimed starting to walk out, "Civilization! We can finally sleep in a real be-"

"Don't move Serra." Rhea had grabbed her arm and gently pulled her back. "What if whoever's out there decides to shoot at you with an arrow or something?" She whispered, "Have you forgotten the basics already?" "What basics?" Serra whispered back. Rhea clapped her forehead. "I swear..."

"Someone? Please?" said the meek voice from the distance. "I knew it!" Rebecca stated, "It's a young boy!" "He sounds so cute," Kairi added making Donald roll his eyes a second time.

"Still skeptical, Ms. Strategist?" Serra smirked to Rhea. She sighed. "Alright, everyone make sure whoever's out there knows you mean no harm..."

"We were gonna do that from the start!"

"Yeah," Hector said with his axe up high. "Down, Hector, down, put the axe down!" Eliwood said. "Alright, someone just go!" Rhea said irritably, growing tired of the whispers, and kneeling down in the itchy thickets.

Serra, naturally, was the first to emerge. "Hiya!" She was surprised to see not only one but two boys. The short one was probably the one who was calling out, both of the boys had distinct short green hair and mesmerizing orange eyes. "Oh, hello…" Rysen said, happy that it was a person and not an animal after all.

"I'm Serra, and who might you be?"

"I-I'm Rysen, and my brother is Alden…" Rysen replied finding himself getting nervous in the presence of an older girl. Alden stepped forward in front of his little brother. "Ok, now that that's out of the way, there are obviously others with you...from the sound of it, quite a lot of you...."

Serra yelled back at the bushes. "Guys, what's taking so long? Get out of there!""Seems we were spotted after all ahyuck!" Goofy said. "Well of course," Rhea noted, "It's a wonder how we all managed to get through these thickets 'unnoticed' anyway. Especially with the horses and Merlinus' caravan…"

She quietly stepped through, followed one-by-one by the others. Rysen's eyes widened when he saw the whole group, he even felt as if his eyes were betraying him when he saw what appeared to be a huge duck and dog.

"Who are these people?" Rysen muttered lowly to his brother, they were definitely outsiders. "If I knew that, we wouldn't be demanding names from them," he whispered back, then aloud, "Alright state your business here. No one usually comes out this way."

Rhea stepped up. "I apologize if we disturbed you, but we're merely travelers on our way to Bern." "And we're not lost or anything! We've come this way before!" Serra added. "....Right. We're just passing through..."

Rysen looked at his brother who still looked skeptical. "What about you guys!?" quacked the duck.

"Eeh!?"

"You heard me!"

"Donald!" Sora said trying to get him to calm down, "I think what he means is what are you guys doing here also? I mean, this forest is as dangerous for us as it is for you."

Rysen then saw a frown grace his brother's face. "That may be, but we're used to it," Alden responded coldly. "Used to it?" Serra asked. "How could ANYONE be used to this?!? Don't tell me you guys LIVE out here in the woods?!?"

"..."

The tension in the air grew. "T-that's not what she meant," Kairi spoke up trying to defend Serra. "Yeah it was..." Sora said blandly doing the exact opposite of Kairi earning a sock on the arm from her.

"Ow!"

"There's absolutely nothing wrong with living this way!" Rebecca piped up, "I think it's admirable, we honestly don't want to cause any trouble."

Sain nodded his head in agreement, "We got off on the wrong foot, forgive us!"

Alden calmed down a bit. "Alright fine then."

Serra walked closer to them. "Let's start over!" She outreached her hand. "I'm the wonderful and beautiful Serra!"

"...."

"Yes, you have permission to shake it, or kiss it, whichever you like."

Alden slowly went with the first choice and shook her hand. "Uh...yeah…I'm Alden, and this is my little brother Rysen..."

Having Serra break the ice made room for everybody else to introduce themselves. There were so many names for Rysen to remember. He had finally gained the courage to speak up and ask, "Why are you guys here? Not that I mind...." "We're on a quest!" Serra exclaimed. "A.....quest...?" Alden repeated. "It's a little hard to explain," Lyn started, "But in a nut shell, Sora, Kairi, Riku, Donald, and Goofy here all need our help in going back to their...home. Which is far from here…"

"But there are different circumstances than the usual 'let's just travel there,' we have to do certain things before we can go, and we believe one of the things we can do is available to us at Bern!" Sain finished for Lyn.

"Why there? What exactly is it that you have to do?" Alden asked.

"Well..."

The entire group looked at Sora and his pals. Sora automatically felt as if he was being put on the spot. "I guess you could say...a fortune teller told Sora." Kairi lied.

"A fortune teller?" Rysen asked curious. "Wow..."

"I suppose that's believable," Alden said though he still didn't really believe it. Just what was it that had royalty and mercenaries out here in the open? It had to be something VERY important...something this group obviously didn't want to discuss, let alone with two young boys they met in the woods.

Rysen on the other hand was less questioning than Alden, nothing really ever happened in the forest, nothing as exciting as what was happening now. Here he was, right in front of royalty! He couldn't explain it but for some reason, he was really happy. He grasped his bow tight to make sure he wouldn't drop it and began to walk from behind his brother to the group, when in an instant a flash of black bolted right past him.

"Eh?"

"No way!" Kairi yelled.

"You guys it's Heartless!" Sora exclaimed. He knew they were going to be around but he was hoping they'd only come by morph girl's will. She couldn't have been nearby...could she?

Alden tightly gripped the tome he had been carrying the entire time. "What's going on?!" he demanded. "We have to fight that's what!" Serra yelled. "B-but fight what?!"

His question was quickly answered when a small, black figure about half his size materialized in front of him. "W-what the-!??!" Alden stumbled back and tripped over a log. "Brother!" Rysen yelled. He was completely at a lost. He wanted to run to his brother's aid but at the same time he couldn't, the monster was standing right between them.

The Heartless turned around to face Alden. "Guys, we have to help them!" Kairi urged, for the rest could only stare in amazement. Before she could get a reply, her head snapped towards the scene again to see the boy called Rysen charging up what looked like a huge metal bow that was just as big as he was.

The ore that was made to be the tip of the built-in metal arrow glowed. With perfect aim, Rysen had unleashed blasts of energy towards the Heartless destroying it in one hit. Kairi couldn't believe it, and judging from their reactions, neither could the rest.

Rysen hurried to his brother's side with his heavy bow beside him. "Are you alright!?""Hey wait, watch out!" Hector warned as 3 more Heartless materialized around the siblings. Alden quickly jumped up and flipped open his tome book. He muttered incantations quickly, then raised his arm. "LUNA!"

A dark mist materialized in front of the Heartless along with dark symbols that swirled around them before engulfing all 3 of them into a dark abyss that would consume them and finishing them off.

"…OK...." Sora said as bewildered as the rest of his group. "What just happened?" "We got showed by a bunch of kids…" Donald replied bluntly.

Alden looked at the group with mixture of confusion and rage on his face. "Alright, what just happened?!?" he demanded, "What in the hell were those….things?!?!?"

Everyone immediately turned to Sora again. _Again!?_ Sora thought. "It's kind of a long story..." he replied not really wanting to hold the group up. "They won't come back I don't think, so don't worry."

"….Oh, of course," Alden said closing his book. He knew they weren't exactly willing to tell, but for some reason he had a weird feeling that whatever those creatures were, they had everything to do with this group that stood before them. And perhaps the sooner they were sent on their merry way, the sooner the danger would leave along with them.

He walked over to his brother. "You're ok, right Rysen?" "Yeah…" Rysen replied. Sora felt a little guilty but if the morph was really around they had to find her and quick.

"Well let's get going everyone. Bern is waiting," Lyn decided. "Agreed, we still have quite a bit more to travel," Rhea said.

Happy they were finally leaving, Alden managed to smile. "R-right...Well it was nice meeting you all, right little brother?" He clapped his hand on Rysen's shoulder. "Please come back when you have the time!" Rysen spoke up surprising his brother, Rysen wanted to know everything about these new people. "Oh, we'd absolutely LOVE TO!" Serra exclaimed. "Bye bye then!" Goofy said frantically flailing his arms around.

Alden and his little brother watched as the group left. "That was amazing…" Rysen told his brother, "It's too bad we can't eat those monsters we just got though."

"..."

His older brother stood there silently watching as the large group went farther through the woods until they were out of sight. Lost in thought due to the previous events, he couldn't even hear Rysen calling his name.

"Alden...Alden....Alden?"

_Just what the hell were those things anyway? And then again, who were those people? The 3 lords from Pherae, Ostia, Caelin, the others....and a talking and clothes-bearing duck and dog?!? What is going on?!?!_ Alden thought.

"Brother? Why are you so pale? What's wrong?" Rysen was starting to think his brother was ignoring him. _Maybe I should resort to nudging him with a stick…_ he thought.

_I know they're gone, but I have the strangest feeling that this isn't over yet...._

"Brother if we don't start hunting again Father is going to think we've been playing all day…" Rysen pointed out. Alden finally snapped out of it. "Oh, Rysen!...Did you say something?"

"...." Rysen then just sighed. "No nothing, let's just go hunt now."

* * *

"Does anybody else think morph girl is in the area?" Sora asked when they were at a good distance. "You think every time Heartless appear it's her?" Sain asked.

"Well, yeah…"

"It is a possibility," Rhea noted. "I wouldn't bother looking for her though," Riku said crossing his arms, "She'll find us for sure."

"Oooh, quiet Riku speaks up again!" Kairi teased. She knew Riku was either quiet because he wanted to be or he was daydreaming. There was no way he was in any form daydreaming in the midst of all the chaos earlier. "We can't all be chatterboxes, Kairi," Riku simply stated. "I think Riku's talking about you again Serra!" Kairi stated setting Riku up.

"What?!? Riku that's so mean! You're almost as bad as Erk!" Serra stamped her foot. "Only ALMOST as bad?" Wil jokingly muttered to Matthew.

"But you guys, you just saw what happened? They appeared out of nowhere. Who knows when they'll show up again!" Sora protested. "I know you want to help Sora, but we can only do what we can, I agree with Riku- top priority is to find the next key item," Lyn consoled. "Not to mention I'm sooo tired of seeing nothing but trees, trees, TREES!" Serra so thoughtfully stated.

"Everybody stop complaining already!" Hector shouted in a tone that was not too far from complaining either. "We're going to find this item then leave alright?! Forget the morph."

Sora huffed and looked to his side. Rebecca gave him a sympathetic smile and said, "It's alright Sora, once we hit Bern it's not like the item will be right in front of our faces, we can check up on them later."

"You're right, thanks…"

Rhea couldn't help but notice how down Sora must have been feeling at that moment, and figured the sooner they reached Bern the better. But another thought also struck her.

"I was just thinking," she said to the lords, "What if this item IS the Fire Emblem? Do you think the King would be willing to let us actually get to it?"

"That thing again?" Sora muttered. "It would make sense if it was…" Lyn said thoughtfully. "It is important after all."

"Hey it's not like we're trying to steal it, we just need to borrow it," Hector replied to Rhea's question.

"Ugh, you're thinking about sneaking into the castle again aren't you?" Eliwood asked somewhat annoyed.

"Well why not?"

"Sneaking in the castle!?" Kairi asked horrified. "What if we get caught and have to go to the dungeon or something!"

"We're not ALL gonna sneak in!" Serra said. "It was just the four of us last time..." Rhea said.

"But sneaking in the castle!?"

"Aren't castles supposed to be highly guarded?" Donald asked.

"King Mickey's wasn't that one time-"

"Shut up Sora!"

"It was a miracle we managed to get in THAT time," Eliwood said with a sigh. "We could TRY to make an audience with the king..." Rhea suggested. "But wasn't sneaking in more fun?" Matthew asked with a sly smile.

"Forget about it Matthew. We'll get an audience, it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt....or slapped. Isn't that right Sain?" Kent said trying to make a point. Sain merely laughed it out. "What in the world are you talking about Kent? You're silly.""But guys, what if what we're looking for ISN'T the Fire Emblem?" Serra suggested. "Then we'll search the village first, and if we have no luck with that we'll make an audience with the King," Rhea explained, "Once we get TO the village, that is..."

"Yeah, we've been walking forever when are we going to get there?" Donald complained.

"In a day and a half's time."

"What!?"

"Does that mean we're going to have to camp out in this forest?" Kairi asked.

"It's not like we haven't done it before..."

"But…the Heartless...and bugs!"

"It'd be nice if this world had some bug repellent but nooo!" Donald pointed out.

"We do have tents guys," Rhea said crossing her arms. _Do people from other worlds complain this much?_ she wondered.

"It's like that time me and Riku went camping at Camp Disney…" Sora reminisced. "It was at a forest in the middle of nowhere."

"At least you guys survived." Kairi pointed out. "That's nothing compared to sleeping in old ruined buildings!" Serra chimed in. "Why would you sleep in a old ruined building?!" Kairi asked with her curiosity getting the better of her.

"We had no choice unfortunately, " Sain said, "I was against it too, having our lovely ladies sleeping in a filthy, run down-"

"But if not for that, we wouldn't have met Dorcas or Natalie!" Rhea reminded. "Oh yeah, Dorcas and Natalie!" Serra said, "It's a shame they couldn't be here!"

"Who?" Sora asked. "Dorcas was a valuable member of Lyndis' Legion!" Wil said. "He was an axe fighter like no other!" Matthew began. "Of course, you're great too, Lord Hector!" he quickly added after getting a few looks from a certain axe wielding lord.

"Yeah, yeah," Hector muttered obviously annoyed.

"And Natalie?" Kairi asked.

"Natalie was his wife!" Serra explained happily. "When we first met them, Natalie had an injured leg, didn't she?" Wil asked. "Yeah, but I think they finally got enough to have it taken care of," Rhea said. "Ahh, I sure hope they're doing ok..." Serra said dreamily.

"I'm sure they are," Rebecca replied. "It's getting dark already, maybe we should stop and camp here for the night?" she suggested. "Ooogh, it's the tents again..." Serra sighed glumly. "Yes, the tents again, Serra," Rhea said, "Alright guys, prepare to set up camp for the night! We leave first thing in the morning."

* * *

"Father we're home!" Rysen announced while walking inside with his brother who was carrying a whole wolf. "Look what we caught!" Their father looked up from his window to his two sons. They were looking more and more like their mother as the days went by. "There you two are, do you realize how late it is?"

"We're sorry Father," Alden said setting the wolf on the floor, "We had a little trouble with the wolf. I'll hurry and skin him, ok?" "Please do," their father replied."Father it was amazing! Today we saw a group of people and 3 were lords! We even saw a huge dog and duck that had clothes and could talk! There were monsters who attacked us, but we beat them too!" Rysen exclaimed, amazed at how much he was saying.

Their father then in turn stared at Alden.

"....What? You think he'd lie?" Alden simply responded as his gathered all necessary equipment for skinning and cooking a wolf.

"Of course not," was the reply, "I think there's something wrong with him. Rysen you need bed rest."

"But it's true Father!" Rysen didn't want his father to worry more than he already does on a daily basis.

"Father, please, we're telling the truth. Why else would we be home so late? Do you really think it'd take us all day to take on a wolf?!"

"Enough!" was his stern reply. "I don't want to hear anymore about lords and talking ducks. That's childish."

Rysen didn't even notice the disappointment that was shown on his own face. Their father never used to be like that, the cause of his personality now was definitely because of their deceased mother.

Alden knew there was no way to convince their father when he became like this. Even though he himself was in disbelief of the previous events, not believing at all seemed even more childish.

"Yes, Father...dinner will be ready in a little while..."

"I'll be in the workshop then, call me when it's ready." With that, their father left outside to his heaven on earth.

Waiting until he left Rysen went over to the bread cabinet to take out a pastry.

"I can't believe Father won't even listen to us..."

"You know how he is, Rysen..." Alden said as he chopped up vegetables.

"No! This isn't how he is, when mother was alive...he was always happy and would believe in just about anything we'd tell him! He used to like cooking and sewing and now he just leaves that to you while he works all day..."

"Well he has to earn money for us somehow..."

Rysen remembered how when their mother was alive she was the source of livelihood, she was different from most women. She was brave, brash, and strong, all those qualities drove their father to be in love with her. He was quite the opposite, almost similar to Rysen.

He was known for being effeminate and meek, he was the son of one of the town's tailors while their mother specialized in jewelry making. Now that she was gone their father had changed drastically.

He was still in mourning, only wearing black, while Alden and Rysen wore their normal clothes he had made for them personally before. Their father had felt the need to fill their mother's place and be a proper male figure. He had given up his hobbies of cooking and sewing in exchange for working at the workshop, making weapons and armor and the likes.

Rysen couldn't say his father wasn't kind, but he definitely wasn't as kind as before, he was more isolated than anything, Rysen hated it when he would always baby him. He never did that with Alden.

The worst part of this change was how their father sold their mother's last creation, a beautiful peridot necklace. It had broken the brothers' hearts, the last memento they have from her was the wedding ring, and even that their father couldn't stand looking at.

"I know, I just hate it though..."

Alden smiled, though it was weak and rather cheerless. Naturally, he knew exactly how Rysen felt.

"Dinner's almost ready, could you go get Father?"

"O-ok.." Rysen replied as he went out in the pitch black night into the well lit workshop. "Father…" Rysen called out trying to be louder than the sound of metal banging on metal. When it finally ceased and his father turned around Rysen spoke up again. "Dinner is almost ready…." He paused when he saw his father's face, full of dread.

"W-what's wrong?"

"Rysen why are you here?!"

"To tell you about dinner?"

"Yes but look outside! It's pitch black! What if something or someone attacks you? You don't even have your bow with you!"

Rysen cringed at the obvious fact. "Honestly, can't you be considerate for once? For me? I can't turn around without you being reckless."

_Father wants me to be like Alden..._ Rysen concluded. Never in his life has he felt like the child in the shadow of his older brother like now. "I'll be there in a minute, just let me finish this up…" His father said going back to his work. "Yes..." Rysen said, not like it made a difference with the sound of metal overpowering him.

He walked back inside the house. "He'll be here in a minute..." he announced to his brother. "Alright," Alden said walking from cabinet to cabinet with utensils and dishes, "Could you help me set the table?"

"Yeah..." Rysen said walking close to his brother, he watched as he took the plates and forks first.

"Hey Alden..." he started, "When Mother was here…did you ever...feel bad?"

"Feel bad? What do you mean by that?"

Rysen didn't know how to put it in words, "You know, like feel bad about yourself..." "Feel bad about...myself...well, I don't think so..." He silently pondered that question. Should he feel bad about himself?

"Oh.." Rysen said defeated, so it was just him. "Don't worry about it, I was just curious…" He took the rest of the dinnerware and went to the table.

* * *

It was bright and early in the morning, the only regret Kairi had at the moment was that she didn't have a watch. Being in this world made her realize knowing the time was such an essential. She didn't even get the whole look at the sun thing Erk was trying to explain to her yesterday. Which reminded her, she needed to talk to him. Time to see if he was awake. She parted her hair, perfectly put on her circlet then headed for his tent.

"Aww Erky, did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed or what?" came Serra's voice from nearby. "What bed, Serra?" went Erk's monotone voice.

Kairi could hear Serra's voice from a mile away, she decided to do a bit of eavesdropping, it wasn't wrong- she was just naturally curious. What better way to study Erk and Serra's relationship than hearing a normal conversation between them?

"Not having a nice, fluffy bed to sleep on is no reason to be so grumpy in the morning!...Or all the time!...Though I have to admit my back hurts a little..." Serra continued."How wonderful for you..." Erk replied."How is that wonderful?!?""...""Grr...I'm going to see if Lowen and Rebecca are done with breakfast!" Serra announced. Naturally she expected Erk to follow her, however..."You have fun with that.""...I will! And don't expect me to bring you any rolls!" And with that she stomped away.

_...THAT'S IT!?_ Erk was worse than Riku if that was even possible. It made Kairi curious to get into his mind even more. She walked out from her spot like normal and crept up behind Erk. "Good morning~!" she said in her cheerful tone displaying a happy face. Erk quickly spun around, thinking Serra had returned already. Seeing Kairi there, he lightened up a little. Only a little.

"Oh...good morning Kairi..." he said dully. Kairi could see why Serra would be in love with someone like Erk, he was quiet and a bit stand-offish, but those were good and bad qualities. He was intriguing. "Could I sit here? Sora and Riku are still asleep."

"Um...sure..."

Kairi knew she had his attention now, she knew he was probably on guard. That was fine though. She took a seat right next to him and started to talk.

"Was that just Serra I saw? I thought she'd be talking much longer.."

"...Yes, that was Serra, she went to check on Lowen and Rebecca, if you wanted to find her..."

"Oh no, I'm fine, I can see Serra any time of day. I'm more interested in talking to you!" _So he thought I was looking for Serra....is he usually this used to being so reserved?_

"...I see...is there anything you need then?"

"Well, I'm still trying to adjust to this world, oddly enough, I think I'm doing better than Riku and Sora but still...I'd be happy if you could tell me some things!"

"Some things.....Like what exactly?"

"Well, I've been really curious about what happened in your last journey. There's still a lot I don't know…"

"What happened in our last journey you say?"

"Yeah!" Kairi replied happily. "All this stuff about the Fire Emblem and Lord Nergal, I want to know as much as I can!"

"I think you might want to ask someone else for matters like that. Perhaps Rhea would-"

"That's right!" Kairi said interrupting him. _You're not going to get rid of me that easily, you're used to pushy girls anyways so nyah!_ She through to herself.

"Rhea is an intelligent person. Very reliable and kind too, I owe her a lot for taking care of Sora for me. If you don't mind me asking, what do you think of all the girls in our group? I really haven't found the time to find out what they're like."

"Neither have I..."

Never in her whole entire life has Kairi made such a blank face. "Oh really?..." she said in a slightly irritated voice. "But, you've known them for a while...I thought..."

"It's true, we have all traveled together for a while, but I haven't really felt the need to talk with most of the others..."

Kairi felt her face turning into something close to pity. "Oh...I see..." There was a reason for everything.

"At least you and Serra seem close."

"..........."

_Oh don't give me that!_ Kairi thought. "Think about it, when's the last time you've had someone pour all their attention to you? It's kinda nice sometimes, even if annoying. Having a girl around...really isn't all that bad...."

"Kairi!" Said a familiar voice, it was Sora. "Oh hey Erk, is Kairi bothering you?" He teased. Kairi felt her eye twitch, so much love she was feeling right now. "...Well I'd better be off then..." Erk said quietly while standing up and walking away without waiting for the others to answer back.

"Geez Kairi. what'd you do to the poor dude?" Sora asked confused at Erk's actions. "Nothing Sora!" Kairi snapped. "Why are you here anyways?"

"Breakfast is ready."

"Really? Alright, let's go!" _I hope I didn't upset him…_ Kairi thought to herself before following Sora.

"Hey is everybody here? If not...well, we're going to eat without them anyway," Hector announced to the group surrounding the food. "Everyone's here Lord Hector!" Serra pouted, "So let's eat!" "Agreed," Rhea said," We still need to hurry to Bern..."

"Alright let's eat!"

"He's probably going to be so into eating he'll start eating us next," Sora muttered to Riku. "That wouldn't surprise me," Riku whispered back, "Keep your keyblade ready just in case..."

"Hey you two, I heard that!" Hector said loudly gaining everyone's attention as usual. "Keep going at it and you're next!" he threatened. "Hear that Riku? We're dessert!"

"Why you little-"

"Hector..." Eliwood warned.

Hector huffed and went back to his meal, but not without giving Riku and Sora the warning eye. "Creepy.." Sora muttered. "Keep it up Sora, Riku, and you'll get what you deserve soon." Kairi said in a teasingly soothing voice.

"Yeah, yeah…"

* * *

"Brother..." Rysen started as soon as he saw their father head to his workshop. "Could we go to the village today? Please?"

"The village? But why do you want to go there so much?" his brother asked. Alden then teasingly poked him. "You're not trying to go meet some girl there, are you?"

"Ah! No!" Rysen said embarrassed, he had to admit he had never seen such pretty women like he did yesterday but he'd never tell his brother that.

"I just....want to go out for a change..."

"Hmm, well I guess that doesn't sound like a bad idea," Alden agreed.

Rysen smiled, in actuality he just wanted to see if he could meet up with the group from before, he couldn't explain it but he just wanted to see them again.

"Let's go!"

"Alright, let me tell Father where we're headed then."

"N-NO!" Rysen yelled unexpectedly, the shocked face his brother had was somewhat expected. He was shocked also, but after last night....he didn't expect Alden to understand.

"B-but why not?" Alden asked recollecting himself after his little brother's outburst, "He'll just worry about us or think we got kidnapped unless we do."

"Because...can't we just tell him we're hunting or something?"

"And why is it so important that we don't tell him where we're going?"

"Alden, please..." Rysen found himself begging.

Alden sighed. He had no idea what had gotten into his brother all of a sudden, but even he was a little annoyed with their father having to know their every move. He smiled. "Alright, we'll tell him we're going hunting, then we'll head for the village," he agreed. Rysen was thankful he had such an understanding brother. He watched as his brother walked out.

* * *

"Finally! Bern!" Rebecca said happily as the group made their way into the village. "Well THAT took forever," Serra complained, "It's the middle of the day now! But yes! Finally a nice, warm bed to sleep in!"

Before she got the chance to prance off, Rhea grabbed her arm.

"Not so fast Serra, we still have things to do."

"Awwww, things?"

"That's right, we have to find the special item," Kent reminded her.

"Is this the part where we spilt up and look around and stuff then?" Riku asked. "That would be more effective," Lyn decided.

"Ok, ok great, I pick Erk, can I go now?" Serra asked.

"Who says I'll go with you?" was Erk's response.

Kairi's eyes widened. If he wasn't going with Serra that meant he was mad! At her! _Oh gawd, it's my fault I know it! I'm such a horrible person!_ was all that went through her head.

Serra merely smiled.

"…That's too bad."

She grabbed his arm and started dragging him away. "We meet again by the entrance gate, yes?" she called back as she and the purple haired boy disappeared through the crowd.

Everyone else remained silent for a while. "Well that sounds like a plan right?" Rhea finally said. "Yeah…" Rebecca agreed. "I feel sorry for him…" Sora spoke up. "Alright let's divide up in groups of 3, or is 2 a better idea?" Lyn questioned. "Well gee, this village seems pretty....big, ya know?" Goofy said. "Perhaps 3 then?" Rhea presumed.

"I pick Riku and Kairi!" Sora piped up. "Hey!" Donald yelled.

"What, you wanted Riku and Kairi?"

"No stupid!"

Kairi understood where Donald was coming from, Donald probably felt like even though Rhea's group had gotten used to Donald and Goofy, they still were foreign to them.

"Sora don't be rude. Go with Donald and Goofy. Riku and I will find somebody else." "Alright…"

"I humbly volunteer to accompany Lady Kairi on our search!" Sain said cheerfully.

"So do I," Kent said annoyed.

"I don't mind!" Kairi replied happy that Kent was around.

"No fair Kent!" Sain pouted and crossed his arms.

"It's not fair I have to baby sit a grown man!" Kent retaliated.

"I think Hector and Eliwood would be fine with me in their group right?" Lyn suggested. "Are you kidding me?"

"You make it seem like you haven't been paired together before, Lord Hector," Rhea quietly noted.

"Nobody asked for your inquiry!" Hector roared.

"Enough Hector, we're a group and that's final!"

"In that case how about me and Florina, if that's ok with you that is?" Rebecca said to Florina. "Eh?!" Florina nearly jumped at the calling of her name, but she quickly calmed down.

"A-alright..."

"Hey, what about me?" Wil asked.

"What about you?" Rebecca snapped. _Ouch!_ Kairi thought.

"Oh Rebecca...come on! Are you really still angry with me?"

"Come on Florina," Rebecca stated grabbing the poor girl's hand and dragging her off. "You'd better go after them before they get too far," Kent reminded.

"Grrr....Rebecca, Florina, wait up!" Wil yelled as he ran after them.

"I'll accompany you, Sir Marcus!" Lowen said dutifully. "Very well then," Marcus said simply, "You as well Oswin?" "Sure," Oswin agreed.

"So whose left?" Sora asked curiously. Everyone looked in the direction of Rhea, Matthew, Ninian, Riku, and the transporter Merlinus was riding in.

"I'm staying here to set up shop!" Merlinus announced."I'm just gonna go alone," Riku said.

"What? But Riku..." Kairi said sadly, "There's nothing wrong with a group of four! The group just isn't even…"

"Nah, it's cool," he simply answered.

"But it's really alright to have an extra member," Rhea protested.

"Do you guys think I'm gonna get jumped by Heartless or something? I'm a big boy, I can take care of myself."

"No you can't," Sora said bluntly.

"Well ok, but if you don't show up at the meeting spot I'm never letting you out of my sight again!" Kairi warned. Sora couldn't help but feel a bit jealous. What was with him all of the sudden?

"That just leaves us then," Rhea said, referring to herself, the thief and the dancer. "Hey, you don't seem too excited about it!" Matthew teased."That's not it at all, I'm absolutely thrilled.""Oh really?""Yes really."Ninian merely giggled at their conversation.

"Alright everybody. Let's split up. I pray for the best to come out of this!" stated Lyn.

"Me too! Let's go everyone!" Sora replied right after.

"Right!"

* * *

_I can't believe this..._ Sain thought to himself. _I finally get a chance to talk to our newest beauty, and HE has to be here!_

_I can't believe this, a grown man acting so childish to a lady. I'll have to do everything in my power to set him straight for Lady Kairi's sake._ Kent thought to his self.

"We could check this antique shop, it's filled with items." Kairi suggested. "Ah! An excellent idea, Lady Kairi!" Sain agreed, "Kent, perhaps you should wait outside? Just in case any 'special doors' appear there."

"Why don't you wait outside for any 'special doors' Sain?" Kent asked annoyed.

"If I do that, who's going to protect Lady Kairi from the inside? Certainly not you!"

"I don't see anything wrong with my protection Sain." Kent replied sternly, there was no way Sain was going to trick him out of this one.

"But I'm sure Lady Kairi doesn't want some serious, grouchy, boring old man 'protecting' her!"

Kent felt his eye twitch for a minute. "Old? Excuse me Sain, but as I can recall you're older than I am, now start acting your age!" _Honestly how childish. _

"Yes, Mother," Sain teased.

Kairi couldn't help but to giggle. _Are they always like this?_

Inside, the shop was filled with abundant antiques. "I suppose we have to look around until we find something that will entice us," Kent spoke up.

"Right. I'll look over here!" Kairi said pointing at the music boxes. It was going to be hard for her to not be enticed by anything in the shop. Everything was so beautiful and classic.

Sain, with his innate magnetism toward women, made sure to stay close to Kairi. "See anything yet?" he asked. Kent with his absolute magnetism to Sain when he was womanizing instantly was next to him to answer his question. "I'm sure she hasn't, for she hasn't even had the proper time to look at anything."

"Everything is so pretty, but nothing to the effect of that necklace from before…" Kairi answered.

Sain sighed.

"'Tis is real pity indeed. I guess we'll have to continue searching then! Kent! Didn't I tell you to wait outside?!?"

"Didn't I tell you no? Forget it Sain, we're here to search for the next item. Remember?"

"Tsk, tsk, you and your sense of duty. It's ok to relax a little bit, you know."

"This is important to Sora, Riku, Donald, Goofy, AND Kairi. It sounds to me like you don't care if Kairi goes back home or not!"

"Wh-What!?" Kairi stammered.

"Kent, don't be absurd!" Sain protested. "I am merely trying to make sure our Lady Kairi fits in with the rest of us and enjoys herself while she is with our group."

"Lady Kairi seems to be a very able woman, she is already friends with most of us. She seems fine, the only one who needs to be babied is you."

Sain laughed. "Oh Kent, you don't mean that, seeing as how we're both knights serving House Caelin."

"Yes, I do, now please do me and Lady Kairi a favor by staying on task." Kent insisted. _This is going to be a long day...._

* * *

"I can't believe we're doing this again, are we going to have to do this every time we go to a new town?" Hector complained.

"Yes Hector, if it's what we have to do then we'll do it." Lyn responded.

"Besides Hector, you agreed to help when you joined us on this trip!" Eliwood noted.

"Only to get away from home!"

"Well isn't that just selfish!"

"You're going to be Marquess Ostia in a few months! Start acting like it!"

"I will when I feel like it!"

"Honestly Hector, I worry for your people," Lyn sighed, she just didn't understand the pressure Hector was feeling, even when he had someone like Oswin to help him.

"I'm sure he'll get it together eventually," Eliwood said assuring. After all, Hector was his best friend, so he knew him better than anyone.

"Can we just go inside a shop already?"

Eliwood smiled. Perhaps some things never change after all.

"Oh fine, how about that weapon shop?"

Hector grinned at that comment making Lyn feel uneasy.

"What? It's not like I'm shopping for a weapon…"

"Of course not," Eliwood said, "We're on a mission, so let's look through quickly yet thoroughly and not get distracted by shining tools of destruction."

They made their way into the weapon shop filled with new weapons untouched and polished. "My, the quality of these weapons is amazing." Lyn noted. Hector had to agree.

"Hey!" he called out to the store clerk.

A tall, buff, bald man approached the counter. "Yeah, what can I do for you?" he asked in a voice just as loud as Hector's. Lyn couldn't believe her eyes, she may as well have walked out the store right then and there.

"Mind telling me where you get these weapons? They're pretty good."

"We get 'em from mostly everywhere, though most are made here. Everyone knows Bern has the best weapons in all of Elibe!"

"I have a right mind to get me a new-"

"No Hector, we all agreed not to!"

"Hey, you've got a pretty nice sword there, lady," the shop keep said referring to Lyn's Mani Katti.

"Why thank you, I treasure it very much."

"Not enough if you're looking at that one sword there."

"Shush Hector!"

Eliwood sighed. "I swear, you two...Mission? Doors? Special Items? Does any of this sound familiar to you?"

"Nope.""Of course! That's why I'm looking."

"Aw, lighten up, little guy!" the shopkeeper said.

"Little?"

"That's a mighty fancy rapier you have too! We have some pretty nice swords here for you as well!"

"I can see that!" Hector said loudly.

"Be quiet Hector, this is a small space." Lyn said then facing the shop keep. "Have you ever seen two boys with green hair and orange eyes? From the outskirts of here?"

She didn't know why she was questioning someone who probably had no idea about them, but she decided to ask anyways. The last time they had met, Lyn had a bad feeling about getting them involved with the Heartless.

"You mean Emory's boys? I see them around almost all the time. Heck, I get a good deal of my weapons from Emory himself."

"Their father makes weapons...." Eliwood said quietly.

"They make some darn good weapons, maybe we should go see them after all!" Hector noted.

_That explains the good craftsmanship of the bow the smaller one was using…_ Lyn thought to herself. "Is there anymore you could tell us about them sir?"

"Well, I'm not one for gossip, but that family is rather unusual. Especially Emory, going from making clothes one day to making weapons another. Can't exactly complain though, his weapons make good money. I feel kinda bad for his sons though..."

"Clothes to Weapon?" Hector repeated. "That's more than odd!"

"Why, would you feel sorry for them?" Lyn asked curiously.

"Well, their mother died not too long ago, that's when their father started making weapons."

"How sad..." Eliwood said.

"Sad? That's a good thing! Better than making clothes, you know how much shame that can put a man in?"

"Hector!"

"Hey, I agree with blue here. Not to mention the money it's making me..."

"Yes, how great for you..."

"So you're saying before weapons he made clothes, while their mother saw to the children?"

"Seems normal enough to me, the guy probably realized he needed to man up and started a better choice of work." Hector concluded.

"Actually his wife was pretty good with her hands as well!" The shopkeeper added. "Really? What did she do?" Eliwood asked.

"She used to make the finest jewelry ya ever saw!"

"My, that sounds lovely....are any of her creations still around?"

"I know what you're thinking Lyn, and that's not even apart of the mission."

"Last time I recalled you had forgotten the mission even existed."

"Last time **I recalled, BOTH of you had forgotten about the mission!" **

"…Wow Eliwood, I never knew you could be so loud, good for you!"

"I hear you loud and clear Eliwood!"

He sighed. At times he really felt like he was walking around with two children, and he was the chaperone.

"Anyways, back to the jewelry, are there any of her works available? If her husband is this crafty in weapons imagine her work!" Lyn said cheerfully.

"Hmm, I don't think so, Emory went and sold most of it, he even sold her wedding ring..." "Even the wedding ring? I understand mourning but..."

"Hey! Maybe he needed the money!"

"A wedding ring is a sacred item Hector! To sell it is....like selling the memory of using it..."

"I told ya, he is a very unusual guy. He won't even live INSIDE the gates like the rest of us, he'd rather live outside in those deep woods!"

"That is very unusual, living outside of the gates isn't exactly the safest place to live…." "Does it matter? You saw the kids, they had weapons, they were even hunting. Looks like they love their wild lives."

Lyn could only sigh at Hector's deduction.

"Well enough about them," the shopkeeper concluded, "Did you guys-and miss- come to buy something or what?"

"I'll buy that one axe over there!"

"Hector!"

"What? It's rude to linger at a store and not buy anything!"

* * *

"Where shall we go to first Rhea?" Ninian had spoken up as soon as the huge group divided into their designated groups of 3.

"Well, I can hear Lord Hector's voice coming from that direction so perhaps we should go the opposite way," she suggested. "Awww, scared he'll find you?" Matthew teased."Um...why should I be? Clearly he and Lyn and Lord Eliwood have that area taken care of."

Ninian smiled at Rhea's excuse. "It's alright Rhea we understand, we'll go inside that armor shop then."

"Very well."

Upon entering the armory, they were immediately surrounded by all sorts of protective items, all gleaming and full of radiance. "Ahh, that's a mighty fine shield there!" Matthew said as he merrily skipped over to examine it further.

"Matthew! Just what are you doing?" Rhea asked.

"What does it look like? I'm looking at a shield!"

"Matthew please…" Ninian started. "At least not now."

He sighed. "Oh fine. Not like I need a shield anyway," he said as he tossed his lock pick into the air and caught it.

"Um, excuse me?" Rhea called out. "Yes?" said a tired man, presumed to be the shop keep, coming towards the counter. "Nice place you're running, old man," Matthew said.

"Excuse you, I'm 24!"

"Huh, couldn't really tell..."

"Uh, don't mind him," Rhea said before he had the chance to retaliate.

"Is there something you need?" the shop keep asked not so warmly.

"O-oh no, just looking around, right Rhea? Matthew?" Ninian asked.

"Indeed."

"Pretty much."

The shop keep made a face but said nothing.

"The armor around here is amazing, in such good condition and yet I can tell some of them have already been used." Ninian said to her group mates.

"Hm, you're right Ninian," Rhea agreed.

"Funny though isn't it? How this place isn't exactly the place for any of us?" Matthew wondered aloud.

The two girls silently agreed. Matthew was good for sneaking up on people and stealing, Ninian was graceful and elegant with her dances, though knew nothing of actual combat, and Rhea was good with books, and more recently, a knife.

"Then what are you three doing here?" said the shop keep while gritting his teeth surprising the group.

"Oh! Well, we're shopping for a member of our group, to find the best armor....for them that is!" Ninian said trying to make a valid excuse to linger longer.

"Nice one," Matthew whispered giving her a quick thumbs up. Seeing Matthew's reaction Ninian couldn't help but to wonder if she was doing the right thing, the last thing she wanted was to take the path of thievery.

"Ooh. In that case let me help you."

Rhea felt as if the shop keep was going to continue with 'so you can leave my store'. He pointed at the shining armor standing to Matthew's right.

"That over there is our newest one, got it last week from Emory's kids. Claimed they made it, but anyways it's pretty good quality if you ask me."

"Emory's kids?" Rhea repeated suddenly interested. It's not everyday that kids make armor after all.

"Yes, weird little kids of green hair and orange eyes."

Ninian gasped when she had heard the description."The two children from before in the forest!"

"So you've met them? I'm not surprised, they're always running around here, and hunting…"

"Hm, interesting," Matthew said.

Not even Rhea herself could believe the chances. "Could you...tell us a little bit more about them...by any chance?" she asked.

"Well you didn't hear this from me, but apparently their mother died. Their father Emory all of a sudden stopped making clothes and started making weapons and armor and all sorts of stuff."

"So, the loss of the mother caused change?" Ninian asked with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Probably, kids over here making weapons, armor, hunting all the time. Not normal if you ask me."

"Well they do have to cope with the loss of their mother somehow..." Matthew muttered quietly.

"I gotta say the father is taking it the hardest." The shop keep continued. "I mean COME ON, he's still dressing up in black and he's sold most of her stuff already."

"What?""Oh yeah, his wife wasn't like most women, very tough, she made jewelry. But I heard ever since she died he sold every last piece expect for the wedding band."

"But, what about the wedding ring?"

"Sold that too."

"How awful..." Rhea concluded, "It must have been so hard for him to lose her..."

"Yup, she was quite a woman, heck the whole family is famous. You're lucky you're asking me about them, everybody else has a bunch of odd rumors about them."

"How awful!" Ninian couldn't help but to say.

"I see..." Rhea said. _It's to be expected perhaps...People always need some sort of tale to tell, just to keep themselves and others entertained._

"But they're good kids, you didn't hear that from me though."

Ninian gave a sad smile before pointing at a certain piece of armor. "This one seems fine for our friend..."

* * *

"Wil, how long do you intend to follow me and Florina?" Rebecca asked irritated.

"We're supposed to be a group remember?" Wil reminded, "Besides Florina doesn't mind right?"

"Ah, n-not at all..." Florina squeaked.

"Of course she doesn't mind, she's being nice!"

"But that's not true!" Florina protested.

Rebecca couldn't help but to blink but understood her fight was hers alone.

"Of course, Wil here just annoys me. As usual."

"Thanks Florina," Wil smiled.

Florina blushed and turned away. "A-ah, no pr-problem..."

_Hmph, jerk! Smiling everywhere to any girl he sees, he's as bad as Sain!_

"I'm going to check this bakery," she declared though in her mind there was every doubt that anything in there would be the next item.

"Great idea! Say, are you hungry Florina?"

"Um...a little..."

"Then I'll buy us all something good!"

"I'm not hungry, we're here to search for items." Rebecca retaliated.

"You're right! And right now, we're searching for items to fill our stomachs!"

Rebecca couldn't find it in herself to argue with someone like Wil anymore. He had always been stubborn. She only led the way to the bakery which was warm and welcoming with its scent of bread. "It smells so nice in here..." Florina quietly noted. Rebecca didn't want to admit it out loud even though she agreed. "Bern does have a way with its shops!"

"I'll say," Wil agreed.

He walked over to Florina who was taken in by the aroma of freshly baked bread.

"See anything yet?"

"Hm? Oh! N-no not yet..." She gave him a small smile.

"Maybe we can ask the shop keep what's popular lately," Rebecca suggested.

"Good idea." Wil said. "Hey! Hello? Anybody work here?"

His voice echoed but nobody replied. "Well that's odd. Someone HAS to be working here."

"Maybe they're baking something in the back?" Florina suggested.

"If that's the case we can wait…"

So they did.

"…Or not."

"Is anyone here?" Wil repeated. "JUST WAIT A SECOND!" came a voice from the back. The three waited patiently, not sure whether to be frightened or not. A few minutes later, an older woman appeared from the back, wiping her hands on her apron and then readjusting the cloth tied around her head. "Yes?" she said calmly though irritably.

"We were wondering if you could give us any suggestions on what's popular to eat lately." Rebecca explained before turning her eyes back to Florina and Wil.

"Well," the baker started, "A lot of people have been buying the croissants lately, and you can't go wrong with just a loaf of bread!"

"Well?" Rebecca asked her companions.

"The croissant sounds good...." Florina muttered. "Alright, I'll take one too!" Wil said then looked over at Rebecca. "How about you? That sound good?"

"I told you, I'm not hungry."

"Oh come on Rebecca! I'd feel bad eating in your face! Wouldn't you Florina?"She slowly nodded in agreement.

"Who says I'm going to watch you eat? Cut it out Wil!"

"Well if you won't let me buy you one would you let Florina buy you one?"

Rebecca sighed knowing this was simply Wil being Wil. She hated knowing him so well. "Would you please Florina?"

Florina nodded. "O-ok!"

"Alright! Two croissants then!" Wil said placing his money on the counter. "One croissant please," Florina said doing the same. "Coming right up," the baker said going into the back again.

* * *

Lowen didn't know what to expect out of his companions but complete dedication to the mission. He was blessed to be in a group with them. He steadily looked back and forth at Oswin and Marcus' conversation attentively listening to every word.

"...In which case we've searched nearly the entire south side of this town and still nothing 'special' to report," Marcus continued.

"That would be the case," Oswin agreed.

"Well it looks like we still have one area to check, so after that we should report back." "D-do you mean the arena area?" Lowen piped up.

"Correct," said Oswin.

"Dusk approaches, so we'd better be quick about it," Marcus stated. "I'm sure the arena will be filled with ruffians out to get themselves some gold."

"Right!" Lowen said following his companions to the arena. What they said was no joke, sure enough ruffians were around.

The trio entered the enormous coliseum. From the moment they entered the sounds of metal clashing, crowds cheering and jeering, and the jingling of money in bags echoed in their ears. "This seems like a place Lord Hector could get used to…" Lowen admitted.

Oswin sighed. "You're absolutely right, which is why I'm glad WE found it first."

Lowen couldn't help but to blink at the comment, not that anyone would notice.

"You think Lord Hector would waste time at a place like this?"

"Of course he would. Anything to get to spar with someone I think."

Marcus laughed. "As if sparring with Lord Eliwood isn't enough?"

"Let's just be glad it is!"

"Ah that's right, Lord Eliwood and Lord Hector are very close, but Lady Lyndis and Lord Hector...." Lowen said expressing distress in not being able to understand their relationship.

"Actually they've been sparring nearly nonstop as of late," Oswin noted.

"R-really!?"

"Hmm, it makes sense I think," Marcus concluded though mostly joking. "Why argue with mouths when you can argue with swords? Or axe."

"T-that's so dangerous, do they really hate each other that much?"

"Of course not!" Marcus laughed.

"They do it to test each other's skills and in turn improve their own," Oswin explained.

Lowen felt somewhat enlightened. "I see, so their relationship is somewhat close to that of comradery!" Marcus and Oswin looked at each other.

"Sure."

"Why not?"

"I've never seen Lord Hector in a light like that until now, I'll have something to tell during dinner tonight!" Lowen exclaimed.

"But enough of that, we must search."

"Indeed. Some of the contenders are starting to look at us funny."

* * *

Rysen smiled happily as he and his brother made their to the village, they were used to trips to the place, yet Rysen himself would never be used to the stares that came with their appearance.

"Grandmother and Grandfather live here, maybe we should give them a visit?" Rysen said softly to his brother. In truth he was lying through his teeth, he loved his grandparents but they were very boring. He was hoping to come across the outsiders from before.

"Oh, that's why you wanted to come so badly? We didn't have to lie to Father for that!" Alden said.

"But, then he would want to go..."

His older brother sighed. "Fine, whatever."

Rysen hated not being able to tell his brother his thoughts but it was for the best, he began to follow him.

* * *

Riku swiftly strode through the crowds of the village. So far, he hadn't had any luck in finding anything remotely close to what might be a "special item." Not only that, everywhere he went he seemed to get stares from the people in the streets, especially the girls. _Do I stand out THAT much?_ He would often think to himself. Some people were even so daring as to try to talk to him to which he would quickly walk past them and ignore them altogether. He wanted to get home as soon as possible and the last thing he needed was some fan girl from another world perhaps trying to find him in his own.

In the midst of all the shops and homes, he found a small alley to take a break in. He sighed. "Stupid clothes, they're not helping me blend in at all!" he muttered, tugging at his shirt that stopped mid-waist. Riku was so distracted by his clothes he didn't notice that one of his "fans" was targeting him like a snake watching a mouse. She had finally caught him in the alley way and made for the kill. "H-hey wait!" she said running up to him. "Ah!" he frantically looked around for a place to hide, or a direction to run. No escape.

"Got you now!" The girl insisted running up to him and unexpectedly hugged him. "Now you HAVE to tell me your name!"

"Why should I?!" Riku retaliated. "I don't even know you!"

"That's why you date people silly!" The girl's hug was surprisingly tight. Riku couldn't help but to yell a "Help!" just to see if she'd let go. Of course not.

"Who needs help!?" said a voice not to far from Riku and the girl.

Riku was shocked for once, someone paid attention to his pleads. "It's coming from there Sora!" said a quaky voice revealing to be Donald as he walked to the scene with Sora and Goofy.

"Oh, it's just Riku. Anyways- these people just won't stop staring!" Sora yelled desperately as his group walked away once again.

"Sora you little punk, come back heeeeere!"

Riku could only watch helplessly with his arm outstretched as his spiky haired friend and his companions disappeared through the crowds.

"Sora, are you sure Riku can handle himself?" Donald asked questioningly. "Yeah, that stuff happens all the time to him, he'll be fine!" Sora reassured; they were walking until out of the blue a bunch of kids came up to them. "Huh? What's going on?"

"Yay, magic!""I want to play with the ducky!""Doggy, catch the stick!""My mum says you guys are dirty mutts and not to touch you."

Before Sora could protest most of the kids were already climbing and messing with Donald and Goofy as if they were mascot costumes.

"Hey guys, knock it off, ahyuck!" Goofy cried.

"What's the big idea!?" Donald yelled when one of the kid's tried to put their hand in his mouth.

"You guys cut it out!" Sora pleaded seeing all of the people around them staring.

"Brother? There's a big commotion going on up ahead, you don't think it's a fight do you?" Rysen asked as soon as he saw a crowd. "Wouldn't surprise me if it was," Alden admitted. The people around here tended to be very callous and some liked to pick fights. It was a shame they had to walk through to get to their grandparent's house but they had no choice, as they made their way through, certain people in their way were in the middle of the circle.

"Eh?" Rysen said curiously as he saw the opposite of what he expected. "Hey, what's the matter Rysen?" Alden then turned his direction to what his brother was looking at and blinked. "...Hey..."

"Stop it!" Sora yelled as a bunch of kids jumped him."It's the people from before...at least some of them!" Rysen noted. It was odd that the children were being so rowdy with the animals. "It looks like fun..." Rysen admitted.

"Um, I think they need help Rysen..."

"Eh? Really? But the children are so happy."

"...Would you reeeeally enjoy that?"

"Y-yes..." Rysen admitted slightly ashamed, if his father was with them he'd tell him to act his age.

Alden smiled and clapped his shoulder.

"How about we just give them a hand, ok? The duck looks REALLY mad." "Yeah...you're right...."

Alden and Rysen stepped up to the playing children and their entertainment.

"Oh look!" one of the children said. "It's the wilderness brothers!" Rysen really couldn't keep up with all of these nicknames. "Hello wilderness brothers!" one of them piped up.

"Hey! You two are.." Sora realized.

"Guys, leave them alone," Alden said to the children."But the animals talk!" A boy protested.

"And the duck has been saying really naughty words!" A girl said as she and two other girls started giggling.

"Yeah but, your parents say they're dirty and if you come home dirty you'll probably not get any supper." Rysen pointed out trying to reason. Several of the children looked at each other while some were unfazed.

"But mum's making porridge!""Oh come on, do you believe that?" one very daring boy said. "They're probably saying that cause they want to play with the animals themselves!"

"I kinda like the boy!" A girl giggled referring to Sora. "How do you get your hair so spiky mister?"

"A special hair item..." Sora replied referring to gel.

"We don't want to play with the animals all by ourselves." Rysen insisted. "We want to show them around Bern, if they like it, they might stay around longer."

Most of the children gasped. "REALLY?!?!"

Rysen smiled but noticed the duck's face, not a happy one. The boy and the dog looked willing though. "Yeah, totally," Sora agreed. "We'd be more than happy to play with you guys again, ahyuck!""HUZZAAAH!""Why don't you guys run on home now?" Alden suggested. "It's getting rather dark out and I'm sure you wouldn't want your parents to worry."

"Ok!"

"Alrighty!"

"Bye wilderness brothers!"

"Bye Ducky and Doggy!"

"Bye Spiky!" Giggle.

"'Spiky?' Sounds like a dog..." Sora complained.

"You're those two from the forest!" Donald pointed out once the children had left. "And you're that guy and...duck and dog from the forest," Alden pointed out as well. "There were a lot more of you before though, I assume they're around here somewhere?"

"Yeah, we split up to go searching." Sora explained, he noticed Rysen's eyes on him and said. "Thank you guys for saving us, I owe you one!""Are you guys really searching for something?..." Rysen asked.

"Yep!" Goofy said. "We're looking for the door to-"

"The inn! But first we have to meet up with the rest."

"Can we go with you?"

"Sure, I don't see why not."

"Sora!" Donald quacked."What?"

Before Donald could answer a familiar silver haired boy made his way to the group.

"Oh, hey Riku-" Sora began.

Before he knew it, Riku had grabbed the collar of Sora's shirt. "I bet you thought that was REEEALLY funny huh?" he said with a smile that made his face twitch.

"I don't know what your talking about Riku!"

"You know damn well what I'm talking about ya little brat! Leaving me alone with that....GIRL! Do you even KNOW how long it took for me to ditch her?!? She was as bad as Serra!!!"

"You're so mean Riku…"

"I'LL SHOW YOU MEAN!"

"Now, now, fellas!" Goofy protested. "Best friends shouldn't fight ahyuck! Right Donald?"

"Yeah!" was the reply."They're friends?" Rysen asked disbelieving to his brother in a hush tone.

The two friends both turned in the direction of the brothers. "Hey, aren't you the guys from-" Riku started."Alden." the eldest brother responded.

"I'm Rysen!" the youngest piped up.

"They helped us Riku!" Sora informed. "Unlike you, we got attacked by kids, not girls!""They we're cute though!"

"Most of them were really nice!" Goofy added. "They gave us nicknames!"

"That's not a good thing!" Donald protested.

"They're actually good children, it's just that most of the adults are so busy…" Rysen stated."You guys seem kinda busy yourselves." Sora noted.

"Busy? How?" Rysen asked not understanding what Sora meant.

"We were just on our way to our grandparents' house..." Alden said hoping they wouldn't be questioned further.

"Oh really?"

"It is getting kind of late," Donald noted.

Sora looked up at the sky and sighed. "We haven't even found anything, just wasted time. If I have found anything I doubt the rest have..." Sora muttered.

"Ya never know!" said Goofy. "Ya have to stay positive!"

"Yeah, you're right." Sora said while smiling.

"Um..." Rysen started. "Yeah?" Donald asked. "What are you guys looking for?" Rysen asked.

He didn't know why but these strangers had some kind of force over him, he was curious and was definitely hoping to learn more about them. "Oh, it's nothing special," Riku said, finally letting go of Sora's collar.

Even though he said that Rysen didn't believe for a minute that they weren't hiding something. "But you're all scattered out...."

"Now, now Rysen," Alden started, "It's not exactly polite to pry." Obviously they didn't want them to know what was going on. Perhaps it was better that way.

Rysen never did have the same thoughts as his older brother. "I know, but I think it's our responsibility to help this travelers as much as possible being residents of Bern, kinda..."

"Well to tell the truth, we don't know what we're searching for exactly." Sora admitted.

"Well then how do you know where to find it?"

"I know this is the place! I just don't know the item..." Sora tried explaining.

"...." Not knowing what else to say, Alden whispered to his brother, "We should go..."

"Could we help you tomorrow?" Rysen asked right after his brother's comment. Sora looked at Donald, who looked at Goofy, who looked at Riku.

"What's everyone looking at me for? Like I care."

"I'd take that as a yes, ahyuck!" Goofy said happily.

Rysen smiled and nodded happily. "T-thank you!" he and his brother walked off on cue.

"Looks like we made some more friends!" Goofy said. "Yaaaay..." were Riku and Donald's responses.

"Come on don't be like that!" Sora responded. "We do own them leastwise this much for all the trouble last time..."

"They were able to take care of themselves though, remember?" Riku reminded.

"Doesn't mean I'm not worried!" Sora insisted. Riku then shrugged. "I wouldn't," he said.

Sora sighed, Riku was just too cold sometimes. Donald and Goofy seemed to get the issue between the two best friends and spoke up.

"Why don't we meet with the rest now?"

"Yeah! It's getting even darker now!"

"Ok..." Sora agreed slowly turning his gaze away from Riku.

"To the meet up point it is!"

* * *

At the meet up point, everyone gathered around. "Well?" Eliwood started, "Did anyone find anything?" He asked a question but everyone's silence said it all.

"Now what?"

"Looks like we'll have to make an audience with His Majesty after all," Rhea said.

"How do we do that?" Kairi couldn't help but to ask.

"We'll just have to go to the castle tomorrow and request that we see the Fire Emblem."

"Well let's go to the nearest inn. Today has been a tiring day." Lyn admitted.

"That indeed," Rhea agreed.

The group started walking back and Kairi had decided to question her boys about their search.

"Riku, were you ok by yourself?"

He twitched slightly but kept his cool. "Yeah, I was fine."

"What about you Sora? Did you have any problems?" Kairi asked more worried about Donald and Goofy than him. "We got mauled by kids but were saved last minute by the guys in the forest.""Really?"

"Yeah, I kinda promised them they could help us tomorrow though."

Serra, naturally, couldn't help but overhear them. "You saw those cute boys from the woods again? Why didn't you tell me?!?" _Leave it to Serra to cause a scene…_ Kairi thought as everyone in the group stopped walking and stared.

"You'll see them tomorrow anyways!" Donald pointed out.

"Yay, how wonderful!"

"Sora, I admit I wish you consulted us before deciding something so risky." Lyn spoke up. "I don't see any harm!" Sora protested. "That doesn't mean we should get two young boys involved in our affairs either," Eliwood said. Sora eyes only could widen at Eliwood's comment, he couldn't believe how everybody was treating him. Like some kind of baby, he knew the consequences of his actions and he knew what he was doing!

The red-headed lord sighed. "At any rate," he continued, "It seems we have acquired more companions, so there isn't much we can do about it now."

"It's just for one day!" Sora snapped while continuing walking.

"Geez…" Kairi muttered to Donald, Goofy, and Riku. "He's as upset as Riku when girls flirt with him."

"Don't compare him to me!" Riku said. "He's just being childish."

"Ok what happened?" Kairi demanded to know as the group started walking again.

Riku naturally remained silent, leaving it to Donald and Goofy to explain. "Well, ya'see," Goofy began. "Riku let the boy named Rysen join us, Riku didn't care but didn't think it was a good idea, so Sora got upset!" Donald ended. Kairi couldn't say she was surprised.

"Riku, you know you and Sora are different! Like Night and Day! Light and Dark! Sky and Land! It'd be nice if you guys could try to be in each others' shoes for once, try to understand each other!"

"Gawd Kairi, you sound like someone's mom!" Riku said. Kairi only pulled Riku's ear in response. "Somebody has to make sure you two get along this time around!"

"Yeah!" Donald agreed.

"Ahyuck!"Riku sighed and endured the stinging pain from his ear. "Whatever..."

"Just promise me you and Sora will make up by tomorrow? Please? You two are my best friends."

"Yeah, fine..."

Kairi smiled, satisfied with the reply.

"What about you Kairi?" Donald asked.

"How was it traveling with the two knights?" Goofy continued. "W-what!? Well...." Kairi pondered. The experience was really nice for a girl like her, having attention pour on her like that, even if it was for one sole reason. That reason was Sain and it made her weary. But if he was the type she thought him to be she didn't have to worry about him flirting anymore, there were plenty of other girls in group.

"Knowing the green one and the red one, she probably had one hell of a time," Riku muttered. "Quiet Riku," Kairi said not admitting to anything.

"Finally a nice place to rest," Kent said exhaling. Looking after Sain was tiring enough.

"I really do hope the item is the Fire Emblem…" Ninian said quietly in response.

"That would make things easier, wouldn't it?" Wil asked."But what if the item ISN'T the Fire Emblem?" Matthew assumed. "What then?"

"Don't say that!" Rebecca insisted. "It has to be! It's so important! And if it isn't...."

"Sora and Riku will probably hang themselves," Kairi said, while walking past them, as a joke but the others didn't catch on.

"….It will definitely be the Fire Emblem!" Ninian said as soon as she heard that.

"Most certainly!" Serra nodded cheerfully.

"You agree too, right Rhea?" Rebecca asked their loyal tactician.

"Ah, yes, of course!" Rhea said nodding quickly.

"See! If Rhea says so it must be true!" Rebecca reassured to Sora who was just stand there dazed from being in thought.

"Yeah…"

* * *

And that's all for now, kiddies! Please make sure to rate and review, and we hope you enjoyed it! Please look forward to the next one!


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